Tucked at the end of its massive content showcase yesterday, Disney announced a price hike for its streaming service. DIDN’T THINK WE’D NOTICE, DID YOU?
There’s rarely a quiet day during the streaming wars. Yesterday, Disney held a conference and announced a deluge of new content, but hidden in the four-hour presentation was that Disney+ is following in the footsteps of competitor Netflix and hiking the price for subscribers up by $1, beginning next March. Hey, with all the new content coming, at least we know we’re getting more for our buck.
The price increase was mentioned at the end of the event, bringing the total monthly cost of Disney Plus up to $7.99. Taking into account the sheer amount of quality content coming to the service in the coming years, it’s not too bad of a deal, and still below the basic Netflix price of $8.99. The Disney+ package deal known as the Disney Bundle — consisting of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Plus — will see a $1 increase to $13.99 a month.
At the moment, it’s unknown whether the price increase will be reflected in countries outside the United States.
While it seems like so much longer, Disney+ was launched just over a year ago, in November of 2019. This is the first price increase we’ve faced. The platform has gone from strength to strength since release, cementing itself as one of the top streaming services in the world with nearly 87 million global subscribers to its name. According to CNBC, their original plan was to get 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024, so they are well ahead of schedule and only likely to grow from here.
The Mandalorian and its adorable Baby Yoda helped kick things off in style, and 2021 looks like it will only increase the service’s fortunes. There are over 100 projects on the way, some of them very high-profile. On the Marvel side of things, we have WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Ms. Marvel and more all coming next year. There are a ton of new Star Wars projects coming, too, including a Lando Calrissian show, a Mandalorian spinoff about Ahsoka Tano, and an Obi-Wan Kenobi show with Hayden Christensen returning to play Darth Vader!
“With these Disney+ originals, along with theatrical releases and library titles, we will be adding something new to the service every week,” said Disney chairman of media and entertainment, Kareem Daniel.
The prince increase is set to go into effect on March 26, 2021. I think Disney has more than enough content in the pipeline to justify the increase.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
h/t Vulture
