With 11.8 million new subscribers in the first few months of 2022 and numerous Marvel and Star Wars shows on the way, Disney+ is riding high right now. However, with an ad-supported tier being introduced later this year, will the platform use this opportunity to hike up the subscription prices?
We have rounded up everything we know so far about the possibility of Disney+ prices increasing, along with estimates on how much we think they may change them by. You can also check out which Netflix plan is right for you.
Is Disney+ going to increase its prices?
According to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, yes. Chapek states that doubling the amount of content on the platform will be justification for a price increase. Here is the statement he gave in a call to investors back in March:
“By 2023, we want to get to a steady state, which is even higher than we have right now. And I think that will give us the impetus to increase that price/value relationship even higher and then have the flexibility if we were to so choose to then look at price increases on our service.”
There is no doubt that a price increase is on the cards. The question is, when, and by how much?
When will Disney+ increase its prices?
The quote above seems to imply that we would see a price increase at some point in 2023. However, it could come even earlier than that.
Disney+ has confirmed that it is introducing an ad-supported tier at the end of 2022 in the US – with plans to extend it globally later in the year. Therefore, subscribers in the US may be hit with a price increase at the end of this year when the new tier comes into effect.
Disney has introduced regional price increases before. For example, when the Star library was introduced in the UK and Europe back in February of last year, Disney+ UK got a price increase – with the US following suit around a month later.
What will the Disney+ price increase cost?
We do not know exact figures for what the price increase will be, but we can look back at the price history of Disney+ and the cost of rival subscriptions to estimate what it could be.
The prices for Disney+ increased by the following in February/March 2021:
UK
- Monthly Plan: Increased from £5.99 per month to £7.99 per month
- Annual Plan: Increased from £59.99 per year to £79.90 per year
US
- Monthly Plan: Increased from $5.99 per month to $7.99 per month
- Annual Plan: Increased from $59.99 per year to $79.99 per year
This was a £2/$2 increase per month and a £20/$20 increase per year. Therefore, if the price of a standard Disney+ subscription was to follow this trend, the new prices would be around £9.99/$9.99 per month, and £99.90/$99.99 per year.
We have also estimated that the price of the new ad-supported tier would be around £5/$5 less than the standard tier – which would put it at £4.99/$4.99 per month.
These prices would keep Disney+ competitive in the market. Whilst a price increase is never good press, this jump is probably not large enough to drive subscribers away (like Netflix’s did).
However, Disney could jump up the prices higher, considering that HBO Max’s ad-free plan is priced at $14.99 per month, and Netflix’s Premium plan sits at $19.99 per month.
Forbes has speculated that the cost of the ad-supported tier may be the cost of Disney+ now (£7.99/$7.99 per month) and that the standard subscription could go up to around $12 per month or even $15 per month.
This of course is all speculation – when we hear more news, we will update this article accordingly.