The brainchild of controversial former company CEO Bob Chapek, who came under fire from employees for his stance onFlorida’s colloquially named Don’t Say Gay bill, Disney Plus was created in 2019 as part of a big push into the streaming market. The platform took off with much fanfare and quickly became the de facto home of a tidal wave of small-screen content from Disney’s large list of franchises, growing to a whopping 164.2 million users as of October.
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While Iger is certainly vetting the measure, the plan for acheaper Disney Plus subscription option that includes adswas already being presented as far back as March when the company was still under Chapek. The data from the Kantar research was likely partly responsible for Iger declining to re-assess the move and letting it go live as planned. The ad-supported tier will cost $7.99 monthly, while the regular ad-free tier will cost viewers $10.99 outside of the Disney Bundle discounted price.
The move is expected to bring in new viewers, satiate older ones, and further reduce the platform’s subscription cancelation rate, which is already lower than the industry average. The price drop will appeal to younger audiences, a demographic that the platform is almost tailor-made to serve with its constantly expanding gallery of content ranging from massively popular Marvel Cinematic Universe projects toStar Wars, which dropped a new poster andtrailer forStar Wars: The Bad Batch.
Disney Plus' ad tier is now available in the U.S.
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