Disney+ Still Isn’t Profitable, Chapek Confirms More Price Increases

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Despite the huge success of the Disney+ streaming platform — which debuted on November 12, 2019, just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic — this division of The Walt Disney Company still isn’t profitable.

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Disney+ is the streaming home of nearly all of Disney’s subsidiaries, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm/Star Wars, and Pixar Animation Studios.

Since 2019, notably, an entire catalog of Star Wars and MCU movies, including the nine-film Skywalker Saga and the entire Avengers Infinity Saga, have been added to the popular platform, which has exceeded all subscriber expectations.

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano (left) and Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/Mandalorian
Credit: Lucasfilm

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The Mandalorian — which introduced Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) and bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to the Star Wars universe — quickly skyrocketed up the charts as the cornerstone of the Disney+ service.

Both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars have released numerous Disney+ Original series in addition to their feature films. Star Wars, for instance, has given fans two seasons of The Mandalorian, two animated series — Star Wars: Visions and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch — and, now, Mandalorian spinoff The Book of Boba Fett.

'Obi-Wan Kenobi' official poster
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Another live-action installment, Obi-Wan Kenobi, is due to drop its first two episodes on May 27, 2022.

Marvel President Kevin Feige’s team has also been hard at work, putting out five series — WandaVisionThe Falcon and the Winter SoldierLokiWhat If…?, and Hawkeye — in 2021 alone.

Anthony Mackie holding Captain America's shield
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Originally, Disney+ was projected to reach profitability in 2024 and, per today’s Walt Disney Company Q2 earnings call, that holds true. However, CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that, as the company approaches profitability for its streaming service, Disney fans can expect additional price increases.

The last price hike came in March 2021.

Chapek confirmed that Disney is “very comfortable with price-value relationship” that consumes experience with Disney+ and noted that the previously announced ad-based tier will cost less than the traditional, non-ad supported model.

Billy, Tommy, Wanda, Vision - WandaVision
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He went on to share that with the ad tier allowing the company to reach “an even more broad audience, ” he feels confident that they can “increase content investment” and “give us the ability to increase our price” without cheapening the platform’s value proposition.

Chapek went on to state:

“The additive nature of an ad-driven tier [will] allow us to keep the price lower [for those Disney+ subscribers]. So, we believe that we can sort of move-up and cascade up our net price over time, given our tremendous value that we started with and the price-value relationship of the new content.”

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Credit: Disney+

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The sitting CEO did not confirm when another Disney+ price increase will be issued, just that it will occur.

You can sign-up for Disney+ or the Disney Bundle — which also includes Hulu and ESPN+ — by clicking here.

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