Today, at least in our country, Disney + is not among the most used streaming platforms, although it is true that throughout its almost two years with us, it has been able to grow gradually, thanks to the enormous number of more than popular references that arise from the sum of its own catalog, plus the franchises with which has been done over the years. From Marvel to Star Wars, going of course through Pixar jewels and Disney’s great historical classics, its catalog is not the widest, but it is quite attractive for many audiences.
Disney faces, however, the same problem as the rest of the streaming services: the growing quantity of them, which atomizes the supply and it makes it increasingly difficult to see a specific content, since the possibility that it is in a service that we have not contracted increases with each new release. In other words, there are more and more users who are not willing to pay monthly or annual fees of a not insignificant amount, to be able to access everything. And it seems that Disney + have taken note of it.
Thus, and as we can read in The Verge, Disney + will offer a cheaper subscription modality, but in exchange it will include advertising. This new subscription level will debut in the United States this year, and the company is considering its international expansion by 2023. More specific dates have not been provided, so we will still have to wait a while to find out, but the announcement fits with Disney’s plans to increase its subscriber base to between 230 and 260 million in 2024, compared to about 130 that it currently has.
Nor has it been reported, at the moment, about the price that this version of Disney + would have with advertising inserts, although we can imagine that it will be a discount of no less than 30% and it does not seem likely that it will be more than 50%, values that we can infer from the offers of other platforms that also offer subscriptions with advertising in the United States. The reduction could be greater if, in addition to advertising inserts, the service cuts the maximum streaming quality, for example limiting it to 1080P, compared to 4K that is also available on the platform.
and also bWe do not know, at the moment, the format and location of these advertising inserts. It is possible that Disney + opts for a format similar to what we can see in Prime Video content, that is, an ad before the content starts playing. But we cannot rule out that it adopts a somewhat more aggressive model, like the one we see today on YouTube for those who have not chosen to contract the premium service.
Be that as it may, I personally think it is a good initiative on the part of Disney, whose price in Spain is currently 8.99 euros per month or 89.90 euros with an annual payment. If the model with advertising supposes a price reduction of 30%, the annual plan would cost less than 63 euros, while if it is the most aggressive option, with a drop of 50%, the annual price would be 44.95 eurosan amount that many more people would be willing to pay in exchange for access, for a year, to the content of the platform, even if it is with advertising in between.
