When The Walt Disney Company launched its very own streaming service — Disney+ — in November 2019, it was touted as the ultimate streaming platform for Disney fans. Not only could subscribers watch some of their favorite Disney movies and television shows, but Disney was also dedicating a lot of time and money to creating new and original content.
One of the great things about Disney+ when it first launched was its affordability. Subscribers would pay just $6.99 per month and would have access to everything the site had to offer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney did launch Premier Access, in which subscribers would have to pay $19.99 if they wanted to watch a brand-new release, but the monthly and yearly prices remained low.
Things have changed a lot in four years, and Disney+ has seen a drastic price increase. The ad-supported tier of Disney+ now costs $7.99 per month. But subscribers who want to enjoy their favorite movies and shows without ads have to pay $13.99 per month.
In October 2023, Disney announced that the ad-free tier of Disney+ would go from $10.99 per month to $13.99 per month, a nearly 30% increase.
And now, it looks like Disney is seeing the cost of their massive price hike.
On February 7, Disney released its earnings for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. In that report, it revealed that it had lost a whopping 1.3 MILLION subscribers after the price hike went into effect. However, Disney remains optimistic and still plans to add between five and six million subscribers to its platform by the end of the current quarter, which ends in March.
In just four years, Disney+ cost The Walt Disney Company nearly $11 billion. When he returned as CEO after the firing of Bob Chapek, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that he would be taking a more critical approach to Disney+.
Since then, Disney+ has canceled a number of original series — including Doogie Kamealoha MD, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and National Treasure: Edge of History. Disney also shelved two series that had been filmed, but not yet aired — Nautilus and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
By focusing on Disney+, Iger had managed to cut the streamer’s losses to just $300 million last quarter. That is a massive drop from the losses that Disney+ was experiencing before Iger retook the reins.
While he was CEO, Bob Chapek said that the company expected to have Disney+ profitable by 2024. He is currently facing multiple lawsuits because of those statements. Bob Iger has remained quiet on when he thinks Disney+ will see a profit.
