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Credit: Inside the MagicThe Disney+ streaming service has been struggling to maintain its subscriber base, but that might change now that it is slashing its monthly price by some 60%. Naturally, this deal is only going to be for a limited time, but for many Disney fans, it could be well worth it.
When Disney+ was launched in 2019, it was offered for a rock-bottom price compared to streaming counterparts like Netflix, HBO Max (now plain Max), Prime Video, and Apple TV+. But over the last five years, the price (depending on the country) has doubled, angering many subscribers. It also doesn’t help that at the same time as Disney was jacking up the price of the service, it began deleting original and classic content, essentially charging more for fewer options.
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At this point in the streaming wars, platforms have largely maxed out the number of new subscribers they can snag and are more concerned with “churn,” which is to say, how many customers they can retain. As such, it is no surprise that Disney+ is offering a huge new deal to customers in the United Kingdom, a territory in which it is still working to cement a base.
From today until March 14 (per Yahoo News UK), Disney+ is offering a special deal for new and returning U.K. customers: £1.99 (equivalent to U.S. $2.52) for Disney+ Standard with Ads for three months. At the end of that time period, the subscription will renew at the Standard with Ads price, which is currently £4.99 (U.S. $ 6.32) a month. The deal can be accessed here. Notably, even the Standard with Ads price in the U.K. is slightly cheaper than for American subscribers, who currently pay $7.99 a month to watch Star Wars: The Mandalorian with an increasing amount of commercials.
Virtually every streaming service is currently trying to figure out not just how to keep its subscribers, but how to actually make it profitable to do so. The Walt Disney Company lost a staggering $300 million on Disney+ in the final quarter of 2023 alone; despite that, CEO Bob Iger has made it clear that the plan is to push forward with streaming, no matter what.
Plans to actually push to make money by streaming are multifaceted: charge customers more, try to put ads anywhere the company can, delete content to avoid paying creator royalties, mash it together with Hulu and ESPN, and, of course, pay Taylor Swift $75 million for the exclusive rights for her concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023). Notably, The Eras Tour is landing on the Disney+ streaming service on March 15, which makes it likely that this new subscriber deal is an attempt to get as many new viewers on the platform as possible before then.
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But, even without that record-breaking concert film, the streaming service still offers one of the biggest catalogs of any major streaming service. Subscribers have access to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Simpsons, Disney’s own vast array of classic animated and live-action shows and films, Marvel Studios, and National Geographic, at least for now. If you act fast (and are in the U.K.), you can have all that for the cheapest price in a long time.
How much do you pay for Disney+? Do you watch with ads or prefer Premium? Let us know in the comments below!