Launch Date for Ad-Supported Disney+ & Increased Pricing Announced

Ad-supported Disney+ streaming is coming, along with a revamp of pricing across Disney+ with ads, without ads, and all forms of bundles for subscribers who also use Hulu and ESPN+.

The news broke during today’s Walt Disney Company third quarter 2022 earnings call while discussing subscriber increases, rates, and upcoming specials coming to Disney+, Disney+ HotStar, Hulu, and ESPN.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek previously shared that the company’s goal for Disney+ streaming subscribers was to reach 230-260 million Disney+ subscribers by the end of 2024. According to today’s earnings call, the company is on target to reach a core DIsney+ subscribership of 135-165 million by the end of fiscal 2024.

In continuing the goal of increasing revenue, Disney has shared that the ad-supported version of Disney+ will launch on December 8, 2022.

The ad-supported version of Disney+ will be known as Disney+ basic when the service launches this winter. The initial pricepoint for the ad-supported version of the streaming platform will be $7.99/month, the same price as the current version of Disney+ for users who have the standard subscription without any bundle with Hulu or ESPN+.

Beginning December 8, 2022, the ad-free version of Disney’s streaming platform will increase by nearly 40% to $10.99/month. When the ad-supported version of Disney+ launches, the ad-free version will be called Disney+ Premium.

All of the content will be the same across both platforms; however, during this afternoon’s call, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy reiterated the importance of a slow start to ad hosting on the platform. As part of this, children’s profiles and preschool-aged shows will not run ads when the new service launches, though this is subject to change in the future. Disney has also confirmed that political ads, and alcohol ads will not be shown on the platform at all.

The rates at which ads are shown on the platform will also start slow to ease viewers into Disney+ basic with about four minutes of advertising for each hour of content at launch.

As for other streaming pricing under the Disney umbrella, the company previously shared that ESPN+ rates will increase from $6.99/month to $9.99/month with the new pricing taking effect this month. And on Hulu, viewers will see an increase in pricing beginning October 10, 2022 with ad-supported Hulu increasing $1 per month to $7.99/month and the ad-free version bumping up from $12.99 to $14.99 monthly.

The Disney Bundle, prices will also increase at this time to $14.99 per month for Hulu with ads, Disney+, and ESPN+) and the pricing will stay at its current rate of $19.99/month for the same package with ad-free Hulu.

Along with the new ad-supported features and price increases, Disney+ Day will once again take place this year with activations across multiple segments of the company. We will continue to monitor any changes to Disney+ and will be back here with additional details on Disney+ Day as we have them here on DisneyTips.