Disney has started informing Disney+ subscribers of changes to its Subscriber Agreement. One of which is the clarification that those signed up to the Disney+ Premium (No Ads) tier may still encounter ads when watching some content.
Here’s the exact wording of the clarification:
“We are clarifying that, as we continue to increase the breadth and depth of the content we make available to you, circumstances may require that certain titles and types of content include ads, even in our ‘no ads’ or ‘ad free’ subscription tiers.”
While the updated Subscriber Agreement is already in place for new subscribers (as of Jan. 27, 2025), the changes take effect beginning March 24, 2025 for existing subscribers, or immediately if acknowledging an in-app notification.
In reality, this is not all that surprising. While this may sound like Disney+ is forcing ad-free subscribers to watch ads, this is more likely a result of some of the other changes that have occurred recently.
For example, the last few months have seen Disney+ get more involved in live channels. Although not live channels in the traditional sense, these ‘Streams‘ provide users with a continuous viewing experience, making them largely indistinguishable from live channels.
As they are streams that continuously play content, they may also include some form of ad break. In these instances, it is largely impossible for a streaming service like Disney+ to offer an ad-free experience, even if the subscriber is signed up to an ad-free plan.
Along with live channels, Disney+ also appears to be equally interested in streaming live events in the future. Again, as these are live events, it is largely impossible to offer an ad-free viewing experience. Even if no ads were shown, the user would still have to wait for the ad break to end before the live event resumed.
It is also worth noting that the clarification doesn’t just cover traditional commercials. In Disney+’s current Subscriber Agreement (updated Jan. 27, 2025), the company confirms that ad-free subscribers may encounter in-house promotional messaging.
“Additionally, “no ads” or “ad-free” Service Tiers may contain limited promotional content, such as brief clips about the Bundles (including messages promoting an upgrade thereto) and other content available on any services associated with the Bundles, and branded content, product integrations, or sponsorship messaging.”
For reference, these changes don’t just apply to Disney+ but also Hulu and ESPN+ as well. As part of the same change, Disney is combining the Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ Subscriber Agreements, and existing Hulu subscribers are separately being informed of this by Hulu.
Due to the lack of an ad-free ESPN+ tier, the ‘no ads’ clarification really only applies to Disney+ and Hulu subscribers.
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