The TV streaming apps broke their promises, and now they’re jacking up prices
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
This week, Disney+ and the Disney-controlled Hulu became the latest streaming video services to increase prices. Starting in October, the ad-free tier of Disney+ will rise from $11 to $14 a month, while ad-free Hulu will increase from $14 to $18 a month. Both services will also be offered together for $20 a month, and the ad-supported tiers will maintain their current pricing; both strategies seem intended to drive viewers to either sign up for multiple services or drop down to an ad-supported tier.
This is thesecond price hike for both services in the last calendar year, and most subscription services have been doing the same thing recently. Here are the big-name video streaming services that have increased their prices in the last 12 months (not counting bundles or other discounts or add-ons, all prices monthly):
| Netflix | Hulu | (HBO) Max | Disney+ | Amazon Prime Video | Apple TV+ | Paramount+ | Peacock | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad-free (before) | $13.99 | $12.99 | $14.99 | $7.99 | $8.99 standalone, $12.99 with Prime | $4.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Ad-free (after) | $15.49 | $17.99 | $15.99 | $13.99 | $8.99 standalone, $14.99 with Prime | $6.99 | $11.99 | $11.99 |
| With ads (before) | N/A (launched November 2022) | $6.99 | $9.99 | N/A (launched December 2022) | N/A, but "in talks" | N/A, but hiring personnel | $4.99 | $4.99 |
| With ads (after) | $6.99 | $7.99 | $9.99 | $7.99 | N/A | N/A | $5.99 | $5.99 |
And that's just capturing price increases from the last year or so; many of these services have increased prices steadily over the last two or three years, as subscriber growth has slowed or declined. If you pay for more than a couple of these services (and especially if you pay for music, games, or other software on top of your streaming apps), your prices have either gone up a lot in the last year, or you've decided to let TV advertising back into your life.