The cost of ad-free Disney Plus is due to increase again later this year. At present, it currently remains to be seen how much the ad-free version of the service will increase by, or when exactly the price increase will take effect.
For reference, the price of the ad-free Disney Plus subscription increased from $7.99 per month to $10.99 per month in December of last year. At exactly the same time, Disney introduced a new ‘with ads’ tier. Priced at $7.99 per month, Disney Plus Basic made it possible to sign up at the same price as before, albeit with ads.
In spite of that price increase only having been implemented five months ago, there is already confirmation that another one is in the works. During Disney’s earnings call, CEO Bob Iger explained that the price of the ad-free tier will increase again later in the year.
Hulu, which is mostly owned by Disney, tends to roll out price increases in December of each year and this is also when the previous Disney Plus price increase rolled out. With this pattern in mind, it seems reasonable to assume that December is likely to be when the next one will roll out.
Hulu also offers two plan options for consumers to choose from. The ‘with ads’ plan costs $7.99 per month while the ad-free plan costs $14.99 per month. While it would seem unlikely that Disney could push the ad-free price of Disney Plus to as high as $14.99 per month (effectively doubling the price in one year), that would put it on price par with Hulu.
For reference, in the first full three-month period since that last price increase, Disney Plus lost four million subscribers globally. In the US and Canada specifically, Disney Plus lost around 300,000 subscribers during the first calendar quarter of 2023.
