The Disney+ streaming service will cost $7.99 per month, starting from March 26, 2021. This is only the latest streaming service to encounter a price increase, albeit not to the scale seen by live TV streaming services. It is also not the only non-live TV streaming service to see an increase recently, considering Netflix has upped the price of its Standard and Premium plans.
Disney’s streaming service launched last November, priced at $6.99 per month. At that price, the service offered great value, considering it brings many Disney movies and shows together with titles from Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel. Even at the higher price, it still offers plenty of value, with more new content promised to be on the way.
The Walt Disney Company has confirmed the price of Disney+ will increase to $7.99 per month at the end of the first quarter of 2021. Those who are on the annual plan will also see an increase, with the yearly subscription rising from $69.99 to $79.99 at the same time.
In fact, no subscriber seems to be safe from the rise as the Disney Bundle will also increase to $13.99 per month. Currently, the Disney Bundle costs $12.99 per month and not only includes streaming access to Disney+, but basic Hulu (with ads) and ESPN+ as well.
Disney+ continues to grow
The announcement was made during the ‘Disney Investor Day 2020’ event where the company released other forward-looking statements, including confirming the launch of many new shows coming to the service in 2021 and beyond. In addition to those announcements, Disney also provided an update on the current status of the service by confirming there are now more than 86.8 million subscribers. This is in spite of the service only having launched in November of 2019.
Disney also explained that, across all of its direct-to-consumer services, it now has more than 137 million paid subscriptions worldwide. Besides the 86.8 million Disney+ subscribers, this includes 38.8 million Hulu subscribers and 11.5 million ESPN+ subscribers.
While price increases are never good news, this particular one seems less impacting than others, considering the low-cost the service launched at to begin with. Furthermore, the company says that Disney+ alone is expected to get more than 100 titles per year going forward, and that by the end of the first quarter of 2021 the service will also be available on Comcast X1 set-top boxes and Flex platforms.
Source: Disney
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