The era of cheap streaming seems to be over as numerous services have increased their prices this year.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced this week that his streaming platform will raise its prices for the second time in less than a year, increasing Disney+’s ad-free plan from $10.99 to $13.99 a month in October .
Music streaming platform Spotify also confirmed last month that it would charge 10 percent more, increasing its premium plan from $9.99 to $10.99 per month.
The reason is that more and more streaming platforms are no longer providing their subscribers with huge content at low, uniform prices – amid increasing competition across the industry. Many services have also promised to crack down on password sharing in order to increase their profits.
Here, explains which platforms will raise prices this year – and by how much.
The era of cheap streaming seems to be over as numerous services have increased their prices this year
Disney+
Disney announced this week that it will increase the price of its ad-free plan by 27 percent starting October 12.
The company also increased the price of its trio package of ad-free Disney+, Hulu ad-free, and ESPN+ with ads from $19.99 per month to $24.99 per month.
Disney+ launched in 2019 for the low price of $6.99. The company has increased costs by $3 per month over the past year.
At the time, CEO Iger said, “We were pleasantly surprised that the loss of subscribers due to a significant price increase for the non-advertised Disney+ product was modest.”
“It was some loss, but it was relatively small. That leads us to believe that we do indeed have price elasticity.”
Disney will increase the price of the ad-free Disney+ subscription to $13.99 per month and plans to launch the premium duo with Hulu for $19.99 ad-free. Pictured: CEO Bob Iger
Iger also announced that the company is now following in the footsteps of competitor Netflix by prioritizing opportunities to convert those using other people’s accounts into paying customers.
“We’re actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best ways for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family,” he said during a call about Disney’s quarterly earnings Aug. 9.
hulu
Disney-owned TV and movie subscription service Hulu will also see a price increase from $14.99 per month to $17.99 per month for the ad-free tier in October — a 20 percent increase.
However, Disney announced that it will be offering a savings of $12 per month for those who want to subscribe to both Disney+ and Hulu – with a new joint offer of $19.99.
Spotify
The popular music streaming service announced a price increase in July, boosting its premium single plan by 10 percent from $9.99 to $10.99.
It also increased the Duo plan to $14.99, Family plan to $16.99, and Student plan to $5.99.
Existing Spotify subscribers were notified via email and given a one-month grace period before the new price went into effect – unless they canceled first.
Spotify announced a price increase earlier this year, increasing the premium single fee by 10 percent
Paramount+
Paramount+, which hosts shows like “Yellowjackets” and “Billions,” also increased its prices by 20 percent in June, increasing the ad-free plan from $9.99 to $11.99.
As part of the integration with Showtime, its existing ad-supported Essential plan has also been reduced in price from $4.99 to $5.99 per month.
peacock
NBCUniversal’s streaming platform also increased its ad-free Premium plan by 20 percent from $9.99 per month to $11.99.
The ad-supported plan also increased from $4.99 to $5.99 in the last month.
The service, which has about 22 million subscribers, suffered a loss of $704 million before interest and taxes in the first quarter of this year – and spent more on live sports and original content.
Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max, and Amazon Music have increased their prices this year due to increased competition
HBO Max
HBO Max, also known as Max, has also been charging $15.99 for its ad-free offering since January this year — up nearly 7 percent from the previous price of $14.99.
“This $1 price increase will allow us to continue investing in delivering even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” the company said in a statement.
Amazon Music
In January, Amazon Music increased its price by 10 percent – from $9.99 to $10.99.
Netflix and Apple TV+
While Netflix didn’t explicitly raise its prices, it scrapped its cheap, ad-free plan for new US customers last month.
This means consumers must choose between an ad-free “Standard” monthly plan for $15.49, an ad-free Premium plan for up to four simultaneous streams for $19.99, or an ad-supported plan for $6.99.
Apple TV+, on the other hand, increased its prices by 40 percent last October, from $4.99 to $6.99 a month — the service’s first price increase since its launch in 2019.