One of the great advantages of Disney+ over competing streaming services is its affordability at just seven bucks per month. But come next spring, customers in the United States will be paying eight instead of seven bucks for their monthly subscription.
In March 2021, Disney+ subscribes in the United States will be paying $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year to access the service. The Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Plus) will also get a $1 price increase of its own to $13.99 per month. The Mickey Mouse house did not say whether customers in other markets will see prices go up, too. According to the company, the streaming service has managed to hit 86.8 million subscribers 13 months after launching.
Both price increases will come into effect on March 26, 2021.
Disney announced these price increases after its Disney Investor Day event where it unveiled ten new Marvel series, ten new Star Wars series and several Disney Animation studios projects that will be coming to Disney+. I suppose a price hike was expected but that doesn’t change the fact that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I’m allergic to such moves and think it’s not fair that rich media conglomerates would take advantage of their consumers like that.
Now, I’m aware Disney+ initially needed to undercut other streaming service in order to hit the ground running, but consumers don’t react well to such price changes. Also, I don’t think that Disney’s offering has changed so much for the better that its value proposition has so greatly improved in just thirteen months since its inception that the price had to go up.
But then again, rival Netflix last month increased prices of its two most expensive plans and their customers are now paying up to $18 for the Premium plan (the basic plan is keeping its price) so I’m guessing anything goes these days.