Disney not considering cheaper, ad-supported Disney+ tier
While other streaming services experiment with ad-supported tiers to grow subscriber numbers, Disney is content with keeping its premium Disney+ service a completely for-pay experience.
Speaking at the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company has no plans to add an ad-supported tier to Disney+ in the near future, reports The Verge.
"We're always reevaluating how we go to market across the world, but we've got no such plans now to do that. We're happy with the models that we've got right now," Chapek said. "We won't limit ourselves and say no to anything. But right now, we have no such plans for that."
Chapek elucidated on Disney's streaming price strategy while answering a line of questioning from Credit Suisse managing director Doug Mitchelson. Of note, Mitchelson said many Disney customers are inured to commercials and ad breaks, coming from the company's cable offerings. While true, the benefit gained by including ads to offset a portion of monthly Disney+ streaming costs would apparently be immaterial at this stage.
The line of thinking was borne out by customer response to Disney's recent price hike from $7 a month to $8. According to Chapek, the change did little to impact subscriber numbers.
"We did launch at a very attractive price-value opening point," Chapek said. "The first price increase that you mentioned in the first 16 months happened recently, and we've seen no significantly higher churn because of that."
Disney is also in the enviable position of operating a popular streaming with a massive content catalog to which new exclusives and originals are continually added. In May, the company reported 103.6 million subscribers at the end of April, just 17 months after the service launched. Initial expectations were set at between 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024.
Disney's announcement arrives as segment competitors introduce ad-supported models to reel in customers. For example, HBO Max in May turned to ads to cut its monthly rate by $5.
Apple does not provide an ad-supported tier of Apple TV+, though the company has been offering one-year trials to new device buyers. That period was reduced to three months this week.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
Speaking at the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company has no plans to add an ad-supported tier to Disney+ in the near future, reports The Verge.
"We're always reevaluating how we go to market across the world, but we've got no such plans now to do that. We're happy with the models that we've got right now," Chapek said. "We won't limit ourselves and say no to anything. But right now, we have no such plans for that."
Chapek elucidated on Disney's streaming price strategy while answering a line of questioning from Credit Suisse managing director Doug Mitchelson. Of note, Mitchelson said many Disney customers are inured to commercials and ad breaks, coming from the company's cable offerings. While true, the benefit gained by including ads to offset a portion of monthly Disney+ streaming costs would apparently be immaterial at this stage.
The line of thinking was borne out by customer response to Disney's recent price hike from $7 a month to $8. According to Chapek, the change did little to impact subscriber numbers.
"We did launch at a very attractive price-value opening point," Chapek said. "The first price increase that you mentioned in the first 16 months happened recently, and we've seen no significantly higher churn because of that."
Disney is also in the enviable position of operating a popular streaming with a massive content catalog to which new exclusives and originals are continually added. In May, the company reported 103.6 million subscribers at the end of April, just 17 months after the service launched. Initial expectations were set at between 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024.
Disney's announcement arrives as segment competitors introduce ad-supported models to reel in customers. For example, HBO Max in May turned to ads to cut its monthly rate by $5.
Apple does not provide an ad-supported tier of Apple TV+, though the company has been offering one-year trials to new device buyers. That period was reduced to three months this week.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
Comments
I consider promos to be ads. Therefore Apple and Paramount+ do not have truly ad-free services, in my opinion. True, it's just a single short ad per episode, but it's not ad-free.
The only thing I didn't like about Disney+ is that watching it in Safari on my iMac always had a multi-gigabyte memory leak, (which didn't happen in Firefox) and required refreshing the browser every 5 minutes to restore my memory, or just using Firefox. But switching to an M1 Mini, I haven't had that happen at all.
Apple is always measured by a different metric.