What just happened? Sick of streaming services constantly increasing their prices? Given that Disney is making Disney+ and Hulu more expensive, again, it appears that these companies just don't care, frankly. The increase comes exactly one year since the two services introduced their last price hike. Disney is trying to appease angry customers by pointing out that the increases aren't as high as those introduced by competitors.
The standalone ad-free plans for Disney+ and Hulu are each increasing from $18.99 to $21.49 per month – a $2.50 rise, or approximately 13.2%. The ad-free Disney+/Hulu bundle goes up by $2, from $19.99 to $21.99 per month.
The standalone ad-supported plans are each increasing by 50 cents, from $11.99 to $12.49 per month. However, the ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle, the most popular option, remains unchanged at $12.99 per month.
That means the two-service bundles cost just 50 cents more than either corresponding standalone subscription. Compared with buying both services separately, the bundles save approximately 48% with ads and 49% without ads.
The largest monthly increases across the wider lineup affect Hulu + Live TV: its standard and Premium packages each rise by $10, to $99.99 and $109.99, respectively.
Disney spouted the usual lines about investing in enhancements, such as new technology, features, and personalization, to strengthen the value it offers subscribers. It also pointed out that competitors have introduced larger price increases.
"While competitors have raised prices by an average of 13% this year, we are keeping the price of our most popular bundle unchanged and have increased our standalone ad-supported offerings by just 4%," a Disney spokesperson told TechRadar.
Disney has raised the US monthly price of Disney+'s ad-free subscription six times since launch, once each year from 2021 through 2026. The service arrived in November 2019 at $6.99 per month, rising to $7.99 in 2021, $10.99 in 2022, $13.99 in 2023, $15.99 in 2024 and $18.99 in 2025, before reaching $21.49 in September 2026. That's $14.50 more per month – a 207.4% increase, making the ad-free service just over three times its original price.
It's not just Disney, of course. The eight major subscription services now cost slightly more than $151 a month combined for ad-free plans purchased separately, without bundles, compared with roughly $90 for a similar lineup four years ago. That's far above the rate of inflation: consumer prices have increased by an average of 3.84% annually since 2019.