Disney Raising Price of Disney+ Subscription to $10.99 and Launching $7.99 Ad-Supported Tier

[Realityck]

Classic move: introduce a service with an attractive price point, then raise its price once the service is established.

This is more against making sVoD attractive to people on a budget, versus paying for addition media content for consumers looking for better content from a sVoD service. Both Disney and Netflix are trying to appeal to both types of subscribers.
Reference

Will Free Ad-Based Streaming Replace Broadcast TV?

Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) has become the focus of streaming services and studios. More channels are being added to free linear “live TV” services like Pluto, Tubi, Xumo, PLEX, Roku Channel, and others. Established stream-on-demand services like Netflix, Disney+, and Warner Bros. Discovery are...

www.soundandvision.com

During the pandemic, the number of streaming users and subscribers peaked as people looked for ways to stay entertained at home. But as the pandemic receded, people looked outside their homes to socialize, and churn was higher than ever when people dropped their subscriptions. Many opted for the classic, nostalgic programming available on the FAST linear live TV channels.

It could worsen as the economy causes users to tighten their belts and drop more subscriptions. Viewers subscribe to an average of five services and may look for ways to reduce their monthly fees. Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.

As user numbers drop, streaming companies have announced cutbacks in original programming, with fewer titles in the pipeline for the near future. It’s a catch-22, though. While they need to save money by producing less, they also need the originals to attract and maintain subscribers. The solution lies in bringing in more revenue.

Traditional streaming services like Netflix and Disney + are working out plans to raise more than a billion dollars each by appealing to users who don’t want to pay the rising subscription fees (the Netflix 4K rate is nearing $20 per month). Both companies will offer streaming with commercials. The revenue raised from ad sales will more than make up for the lower subscription fees. Commercial tolerant users view the content for less per month, and streaming services make money from both subscriptions and ads.

It’s not just Netflix and Disney+. The MoffetNathanson research firm projects that ad-supported tiers will also increase profits for Hulu, HBO Max, discovery+ (now Warner Bros. Discovery), and Peacock. In the future, these inexpensive subscription tiers could be the key to the success of streaming services.

As streaming services begin adopting a model that looks more like traditional broadcast TV, how will this affect linear broadcast TV channels? According to research firm Omdia, 2021 may be the last year linear TV is watched more than streaming and other video-on-demand content.

 

[jasonefmonk]

I said the same thing about my vinyl, then my tapes, then my CDs, then my SACDs, then my mp3s, then my Betamax, then my VHS, then my laserdisc, then my HD-DVD, then my 1080p blurays…

Starting with the (small) optical discs it becomes pretty easy to back this stuff up, as the other person said. I also have CDs/DVDs/BDs/UHDs that I copy to a computer for backup and easy access.

 

[alexhardaker]

could see it coming a mile away! start cheap and then hike prices once people are hooked. no doubt Apple will do the same with TV+ at some point.

and lol the ad tier is paid? get outta here disney!

good thing there's not much on disney that interests me. i'll stick with Netflix.

Apple can use this to their advantage; they can promote their price and state that there are no ads.

Yes, there are ads before the content plays, but those are skippable & they are only ads for their own content. I don’t really count them as ads in the same way they will appear on Netflix & Disney+ soon. I doubt those ads will be skippable & they’ll be ads for other products.

 

[StoneJack]

this makes AppleTV+ quite attractive. I have only Netflix and ATV+ and am pretty satisfied with the selections.

 

[LeadingHeat]

Is the annual yearly price for Disney+ changing?

It looks to still be $109/year. Not sure if that has increased or not, I’d have to look at my subscription history.

 

[EntropyQ3]

Unfortunately have a six month old, so might be stuck with the Disney tax for a while!

Six month old kids don’t need to be couch (potato) trained already.
IMHO.

Once they start demanding ”what all the other kids have”, the negotiations start.

 

[svish]

Unhappy to see a price hike. Hope the new ad supported plan will not be having too many ads. But better to subscribe to ad free plans. Never great to see ads.

 

[ratspg]

With ebooks there's a simple solution to prevent losing anything you've purchased. Download the file to your computer, and then decrypt the book and save in an open format. Voila. You'll never 'lose' the book and you can manage ALL of your books from various sources in one database/program (I use Calibre). Yes, I know, technically 'illegal'...but it's my copy for my own personal use (only).
Though I don't really think it's too likely books will be revoked by the merchant. The only cases I'm aware of were when they sold items to which they did not have the proper rights.
As to movies/tv, the only solution is to buy your own copies and store them offline.

Calibre is a great app, love it! Yeah I know all the ways to keep my digital files for myself but not everyone is willing to go that route.

 

[ratspg]

How many months of streaming would the total cost of those movies purchased twice be?

Who knows haha. The movies purchased span across Netflix, Disney+, hbo max, paramount plus, prime video, discovery+, peacock, lol.

 

[winxmac]

THEN: one time payment
NOW: monthly subscription

THEN: pay once use forever
NOW: stop paying and you will no longer be able to use it

THEN: pay to get rid of ads
NOW: pay but you will still get ads

 

[Will Co]

The beauty of the current model is you're not stuck in a contract. Just pay monthly to watch something you like, and then stop the subscription until there's another show that you're interested. Rinse and repeat.

Agreed. I just cancelled Netflix a week ago and purchased a Disney+ monthly subscription. As a family it will take us a couple of months of casual viewing to watch all the stuff we’re interested in. And then it will be goodbye Disney+. That was the plan before the price hike and this news just increases my resolve. After that we’ll find some other provider or if there’s no good stack of content waiting anywhere, just take a financial rest from streaming. I’ve always got Apple One as a fallback because we use so many other Apple services all the time that it does make financial sense.

 

[mjs916]

better just buy and watch in iTunes. That’s the way Steve Jobs envisioned and it makes more sense money wise

Issue with this is you can lose movies if the studio or Apple loses the rights and you haven’t downloaded a copy of the movie yet. Apple is required to remove the file from their servers. So if you do purchase via iTunes, remember to save a copy of the movie somewhere for safe keeping.

A customer called me because he was not able to play a movie he purchase years ago because the rights expired. He had always been streaming it from iTunes.I had to refer him to the studios customer service to see if they could help in anyway. I think it was Young Guns. Only Young Guns II is available to this day and that phone call was 3 years ago.

 

[mjs916]

Agreed. I just cancelled Netflix a week ago and purchased a Disney+ monthly subscription. As a family it will take us a couple of months of casual viewing to watch all the stuff we’re interested in. And then it will be goodbye Disney+. That was the plan before the price hike and this news just increases my resolve. After that we’ll find some other provider or if there’s no good stack of content waiting anywhere, just take a financial rest from streaming. I’ve always got Apple One as a fallback because we use so many other Apple services all the time that it does make financial sense.

I did the same with Netflix. My fiancée was unhappy that we couldn’t watch Stranger Things but I’ll add it again after we finish the shows we are currently watching on other services and pause those. We have a wedding coming up and every bit counts. It’s just not saving us money anymore to have all these services at the same time.

 

[Kissmo1980]

I wonder if these companies take into account raising trend in piracy 🤔 after all these.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

With all these companies raising their prices, pretty soon we will be paying more than we used to pay for cable back in the day.

duh

 

[Htsi]

Nasty

 

[hagar]

Very unhappy my yearly Disney subscription through the App Store was raised without informing me and/or asking my consent.

It dramatically lowers my trust in the App Store. Apple took the wrong decision in allowing this, just to get more money from its users.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

No… but people can prefer one economic system to another. A capitalist… prefers capitalism. He’s not a capitalist economic system.

I hope this statement is valid even though I didn’t use clapping hand emojis between syllables.

People are delusional to call themselves capitalist, socialist or communist Etc.

It’s the same delusion that makes people call themselves after a religion.

You, a person, cannot be an ideology and if you try to form a pure contradiction-free ideology and be one of its pure followers…

…that always ends up badly for you and the people you affect.

If you are not a cult follower, it is not your duty to name yourself after such theories.

It is your duty to just do your profession (this is the only thing you are - a person and and profession) and keep all ideologies, parties, companies and governments accountable.

 

[twistedpixel8]

With all these companies raising their prices, pretty soon we will be paying more than we used to pay for cable back in the day.

I think you mean: we will be paying nothing as we will all go back to getting our content in “other” ways that didn’t leave us with lots of month left at the end of our wallet.

 

[Frixos]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but somehow paid subscriptions with ads make absolutely no sense to me. If I'm paying for something it better not have f—n ads.

You can just pay for cable - that way you don’t have to deal with ads.
Oh wait.

 

[_Spinn_]

Looks like I’ll be canceling my subscription come this December. Why would I want to pay for something and still get adds? This is why I’ve been trying to build out my Plex collection to the point that I no longer need streaming services.

 

[Armada2]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but somehow paid subscriptions with ads make absolutely no sense to me. If I'm paying for something it better not have f—n ads.

And that is why they will make you pay the next package up. Marketing tactics

 

[Jensend]

THEN: one time payment
NOW: monthly subscription

THEN: pay once use forever
NOW: stop paying and you will no longer be able to use it

Those are both the same.

THEN: pay to get rid of ads
NOW: pay but you will still get ads

As long as there have been ads, there have been ads in things that cost money. I hate ads, but I don't know of any netflix-style paid streaming video service that has a paid option with ads that doesn't also have a paid option without ads. (except for very limited exclusions like a single show on Hulu https://help.hulu.com/s/article/no-ads-exceptions )
For all this whining about renting instead of owning, I can watch/read/play/listen to more things, for less money, more easily than any point in the past. I "own" a bunch of movies on DVD, but I don't even have a DVD player hooked up to anything. And I still have the ability to purchase most things instead of renting.

Computer software, though... I don't like that I can't purchase Photoshop without a sub.

 

[Pezimak]

With all these companies raising their prices, pretty soon we will be paying more than we used to pay for cable back in the day.

True, but, unlike with cable you can cancel anytime you like without penalty and then re-subscribe later. I love that about it all.

This was inevitable and at least they will offer an ad version.

 

[RemedyRabbit]

Don’t be surprised if it goes up again next year. Sad to say but you can imagine that a lot of folk will go back to pirating content again soon.