Disney+ to roll out a cheaper subscription plan with ads
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.
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.