Disney Plus is going to cost a bit more for streamers in the U.S. starting this Friday.
As of March 26, 2021, Disney Plus will be priced in the U.S. at $7.99 per month, up a dollar from the current $6.99, or $79.99 per year, compared with $69.99 for the annual plan previously. It’s the first time the company is increasing rates for U.S. customers since Disney Plus debuted in November 2019.
In addition, the three-way bundle that includes Disney Plus, Hulu with ads and ESPN Plus (available only in the U.S.) is increasing to $13.99 per month, also up a dollar.
The Mouse House most recently reported topping 100 million subscribers for Disney Plus earlier this month. about 30% of global Disney Plus subscribers have come through Disney Plus Hotstar in India and Indonesia, which has a much lower average price point than other regions.
Disney Plus has boomed thanks to the tremendous power of the media conglomerate’s brands, which include Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Disney Channel and Disney Studios — as well as buzzy hit originals like “The Mandalorian” and “WandaVision.”
But another big reason for Disney Plus’ meteoric takeoff was its relatively low $6.99/month price point. To that end, even with the higher $7.99 monthly price, Disney Plus remains substantially less than competing services including Netflix ($13.99 per month for the standard plan) and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max ($14.99 per month).
In Canada, meanwhile, the price of Disney Plus went up to $11.99 CAD per month (up from $8.99 CAD) last month.
In Europe and the U.K., Disney Plus pricing increased last month for new or lapsed subscribers, going up to €8.99 per month (from €6.99) in Europe and to £7.99 per month (from £5.99) in the U.K. as of Feb. 23 with the launch of Star. Disney said it would not raise rates on existing Disney Plus customers in Europe and other international regions through August 2021.
