Disney is Hiking Prices and Cracking Down on Password Sharing

After releasing news during their earnings call that streaming subs were down, Disney is reworking their streaming service in order to revamp profitability.

Bob Iger got on the quarterly earnings call to assure investors they had a strategy there.

“We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family,” Iger said. “Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms on our sharing policies, and we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”

Along with the crackdown come price hikes. Effective Oct. 1, Disney+ Premium (with no ads) will be $13.99/month; Hulu without ads will be $17.99/month; and ESPN+ will be $10.99/month.

And if you want to package Hulu and Disney with no ads? That's $19.99 per month.

Disney and Hulu pricing.Credit: Disney

So how much has password-sharing been hurting Disney and Hulu?

Bob Iger said, “I’m not going to give you a specific number, except to say that it’s significant. What we don’t know, of course, is as we get to work on this, how much of the password sharing as we basically eliminate it will convert to growth in subs. Obviously, we believe there will be some, but we’re not speculating.”

Iger continued to explain the strategy, “What we are saying, though, is that in calendar ’24, we’re going to get at this issue. And so while it is likely you’ll see some impact in calendar ’24, it’s possible that we won’t be complete or the work will not be completed within the calendar year. But we certainly have established this as a real priority. And we actually think that there’s an opportunity here to help us grow our business.”

Let us know what you think in the comments.