Disney Announces Subscription Price Hikes

Disney just announced that it’s bumping up the prices for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and their bundle options by $2 to $3 per month, starting October 21. This marks the fourth year in a row that Disney has made such moves, joining a chorus of other streaming services inching prices upward as they prioritize profits over subscriber numbers.

For avid sports fan Jonathan Barnes, this latest price hike was the last straw. He’s said goodbye to ESPN’s streaming service, citing principle as his main driver. Barnes, who used to juggle seven streaming subscriptions for sports content, has since scaled down to just four apps as costs have continued to rise. He even admitted to resorting to watching coveted games on a friend or family member’s account if needed.

According to Jon Giegengack from Hub Entertainment Research, consumers have been cutting back on the number of streaming services they pay for at once since 2024. While a single price increase might not seem like much, when you stack up multiple streaming subscriptions, the cumulative effect on your monthly expenses can be significant. Surprisingly, it’s not the big-name services like Disney, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max that see the highest churn rates. Instead, it tends to be the lesser-known platforms with names like Xumo, Dekkoo, and Kocowa that users are more willing to rotate through to save money.

Analyst Jennifer Kent from Parks Associates pointed out that the availability of ad-based options on many streaming services has helped ease the blow of price increases for consumers, making it more feasible for them to stick with the more expensive subscriptions. However, for the niche services that fall lower on the priority list, users are more likely to play the promotional game—signing up when there’s a deal, setting a reminder to cancel before the promo ends, and repeating the cycle.

Looking ahead, expert Ross Benes from E-Marketer predicts further consolidation and bundling in the streaming industry as price pressure forces consumers to be more selective. While new players may not be coming up with groundbreaking ideas, they are reshuffling the deck with familiar strategies from the past.

In the end, the landscape of streaming is starting to resemble the traditional TV model, with more options, but also more complexities for consumers to navigate.