Disney+ and Hulu Membership Fees Are Going Up. Here's Why

How much is Disney raising the prices of its streaming services?

Watching your favorite Disney and Marvel characters just got more expensive. The Walt Disney Corporation recently announced it would raise monthly subscription prices of its streaming services starting Dec. 8, 2022. Disney, which also owns Hulu and ESPN+, will also offer a new ad-supported streaming version of Disney+, and price changes for its standalone plans, bundle plans, and live TV plans.

Price changes coming Dec. 8, 2022

Below are the current prices for the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ standalone plans and the upcoming price increase. The biggest price increase will be for the Disney+ plan without ads, which is going from $7.99 to $10.99 a month. Disney will be launching a new basic ad-supported plan Dec. 8 for $7.99 a month. Disney+'s new ad-supported subscription will be cheaper than Netflix and HBO Max, but will be more expensive than Peacock and Paramount+. Prices will be cheaper for their annual plans.

Will this impact the number of Disney subscribers?

Disney+ (bundled with Hulu and ESPN) recently beat Netflix in number of subscribers, reaching 221.1 million for the company's fiscal third quarter, which ended in June. Netflix reported 220.67 million global subscribers as of June.

This will be the second time the price for Disney+ has increased. After originally launching at $6.99 a month, in March 2021 the price increased to $7.99 a month. Despite this increase, the number of Disney subscribers continued to grow. Signs are showing however that consumers, as they become more cost conscious, are much less loyal now than during the pandemic.

More families are opting to cancel one streaming service and sign up for another service based on what they want to watch. The number of streaming services per user in the U.S. reached 4.6 in April 2022, down from the mid-pandemic peak of 5.2 in October 2020.

The last major streaming service to increase its prices was Netflix earlier this year. The basic streaming plan is now priced at $9.99, up from $8.99, and the standard HD plan is priced at $15.49, up from $13.99 per month. Since then, Netflix has lost more than 1 million subscribers. While the competition is more fierce, some believe the price increase significantly impacted subscriptions.

Disney's price increase is much higher than Netflix's, with its basic plan increasing by 40%, from $7.99 to $10.99. In a press release, Disney stated: "Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ feature unparalleled content and viewing experiences and offer the best value in streaming today, with over 100,000 movie titles, TV episodes, original shows, sports and live events collectively." Disney+ has a broad range of content, ranging from Marvel to Star Wars to Pixar films. Only time will tell if its content, in addition to originals on Hulu and ESPN+ live sports streaming, will be enough to keep subscribers.