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Disney is planning to launch a cheaper, ad-funded subscription tier for its Disney Plus streaming service, according to reports in the United States.
Sources talking to The Information say Disney wants to offer an option to subscribers that would closer rival the lowest prices of rival services like Discovery Plus, Paramount Plus, Apple TV Plus and NBC’s Peacock.
Disney Plus is available or £7.99 a month in the US, but the aforementioned services can be grabbed from just $4.99 a month. All except Apple TV Plus provide ads for the privilege. The report says Disney would be willing to add an ad-funded model to help boost subscriptions overall, as well as offset some rising costs.
The benchmark, according to the report, might be the Hulu with ads tier, that comes in at $6.99 and is also owned by Disney. It would provide an alternative to the ad-free tier that provides excellent value compared to the likes of HBO Max and Netflix.
The report says: “Disney’s service now costs $8 a month. Rivals such as Discovery+ and Paramount+ offer tiers with ads that each cost $4.99. Disney’s Hulu service has an ad-supported tier, which costs only $6.99 per month. By launching an ad-supported tier for Disney+, the company could attract a wider group of subscribers. That would help it increase revenue to offset fast-rising programming costs for its service.”
Right now it appears the consideration is only for United States-based subscribers, as the States has a far greater array of streaming services to choose from. However, should a potential ad-funded tier prove successful in attracting huge numbers of Americans, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the option come to the UK too.
We can’t say we’d be overly excited about ads interrupting our favourite Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar movies and TV shows, but with the rising costs of living everywhere else, the ad-funded tier would surely be welcomed.
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