“Dog bites man” is the classic example of a common story not worthy of news coverage. Only, that’s never been true for the man who was bitten. That guy definitely cares about what happened to him. And that’s why, even though every day seems to bring another “streamer price increase” announcement we always report them. We’re the people being bitten! And the latest chunk being taken out of our bank account comes from Disney. The company is increasing the prices on both Disney+ and Hulu. It’s a move that clearly seems designed to make customers opt for a Disney+ and Hulu bundle.
Here Are the Price Hikes Coming to Disney+ and Hulu
Bloomberg first reported Disney has raised the costs of its two streaming services exactly one year after the last bump. The ad-free tiers on both Disney+ and Hulu are each going up $2.50 per month. A subscription to either site’s ad-free option is now going to cost you $21.49 per month. The lower cost ad-supported tiers are increasing $0.50 cents per month to $12.49. That 50-cent increase also applies to the ad-free bundled package with ads. (You can see every streaming tier and option available here.)
These Streaming Price Increases Are Meant to Drive You to Bundle
Disney doesn’t want you to pay for either Disney+ or Hulu alone. Those prices are so high they clearly want subscribers to opt for a bundle package. The Disney+ and Hulu bundle without ads went up $2 and is now $21.99 per month. That’s nearly 50% off the combined price of the two individual subscriptions. The same is true of the cheaper bundle with ads, which is now $12.99.
For 50 cents more a month, a Disney+ subscriber can now get Hulu and vice versa. The bundles are basically a 2-for-1 deal. That’s something that seems likely to jack up the total number of subscribers of each. And that’s pretty clearly the point. It’s less about the amount of money these streaming sites are pulling in and more about how many subscribers they each have at the moment. Potentially, streamers also see subscribers as less willing to unsubscribe from a bundle, since they’d lose two streamers at once if they did. Perhaps Disney is hoping to combat the “subscribe and unsubscribe” model many users have been ascribing to.
Or, at least these are the stories for Disney and its stockholders. For the rest of us, it really is about the money. The streaming dog just keeps taking bigger bites out of us.