Disney first revealed its intentions to revamp the Disney+ selection in August. Disney+’s profitability is expected to be significantly increased by a new ad-supported tier and higher prices for the ad-free tier, according to the company. Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN+ are part of the company’s direct-to-consumer business, which has lost billions of dollars over the past year.
Disney+’s new ad-supported tier is one dollar more expensive than Netflix’s entry-level ad-supported plan, coming in at $7.99 per month. However, due to licensing limitations, Netflix’s ad-supported offering is restricted to 720p streaming on a single device at a time. Additionally, the entire content library isn’t accessible.
These limitations do not apply to Disney+ Basic subscribers. You have access to the entire Disney Plus library of programming. And can stream in 4K Ultra HD, and can watch on up to four devices simultaneously. The length of the advertisements on Disney+ will be either 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or 45 seconds. Up to four minutes of commercials per hour are to be expected.
Netflix’s ad-supported plan is still not available on Apple TV, and there is no timeline for when that will change. Disney+ Basic, on the other hand, is perhaps most notable in that it is accessible anywhere the Disney+ app is available, including Apple TV. The company promises, however, that it will change at some point in the future.
The cost of the ad-free Disney+ tier is rising with the release of Disney+ Basic today. Disney+ without ads will now cost $10.99 per month instead of the previous $7.99, effective immediately.
