Disney+ to roll out a cheaper subscription plan with ads

Disney+
(Image credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

You can soon save a bit of money on your Disney+ subscription — if you're willing to watch some ads.

Disney announced Friday it will launch a new cheaper, ad-supported version of its subscription service later this year. A Disney+ subscription currently costs $7.99 per month and doesn't have any ads.

"Expanding access to Disney+ to a broader audience at a lower price point is a win for everyone — consumers, advertisers, and our storytellers," Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution chair Kareem Daniel said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

It wasn't announced what the price point for the ad-supported version of Disney+ will be. But one of Disney's main streaming competitors, HBO Max, offers an ad-supported plan for $9.99 per month, cheaper than the ad-free version that costs $14.99. NBCUniversal's Peacock also has a free ad-supported version, although that plan doesn't offer access to all of its content. And Hulu, which Disney is the majority owner of, has both ad-supported and ad-free options.

Disney+ currently has about 129 million subscribers, though it faced a slowdown in growth in North America last year, The Hollywood Reporter notes. Netflix has over 220 million subscribers, and Disney says it's targeting between 230 million and 260 million paid subscribers by 2024.

The ad-supported Disney+ subscription tier will launch in the U.S. in late 2022 and expand internationally in 2023.

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.