Disney announced today that it’s raising the price of its ad-free Disney+ subscription to $10.99 per month starting December 8 in the United States, up from the current $7.99 price. The price change will coincide with the launch of the streaming service’s upcoming ad-supported plan, which Disney says will be priced at $7.99 per month.
Disney notes that the ad-supported tier will be called “Disney+ Basic” and the ad-free subscription plan will be called “Disney+ Premium.”
Earlier this year, Disney promised to limit total ad load to an average of four minutes of commercials an hour. The company also revealed that preschool programming will not have any commercials whatsoever. Disney+ will have fewer ads than its sister service Hulu’s ad-supported tier, which shows ads for nearly twice as much time (approximately 7.4 ads).
“With our new ad-supported Disney+ offering and an expanded lineup of plans across our entire streaming portfolio, we will be providing greater consumer choice at a variety of price points to cater to the diverse needs of our viewers and appeal to an even broader audience,” Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, said in a statement.
Disney also announced today that the price of Hulu without ads will increase by $2 per month, from $12.99 to $14.99, starting October 10. Hulu with ads will go up by $1 per month, rising from $6.99 to $7.99.
In addition, the Disney Bundle in the United States, which includes Hulu with ads, Disney+ no ads and ESPN+ will increase from $13.99 to $14.99 per month. The premium version of the bundle, which includes ad-free Hulu, ad-free Disney+ and ESPN+ will remain at $19.99 per month.
As previously announced, the price of ESPN+ will jump from $6.99 to $9.99 per month on August 23, and the annual plan is going up from $69.99 to $99.99.
Also on Wednesday, Disney revealed that total Disney+ subscriptions rose to 152.1 million during the company’s third-quarter, after posting better-than-expected results. The streaming service added 14.4 million subscribers in the quarter, beating expectations of 10 million.