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Hulu is the latest Disney streaming service to raise its prices. Beginning Oct. 8, the price of Hulu’s ad-free and ad-supported tiers will both cost $1 more each month, the company is telling subscribers today.
Top line
The change affects both current and new subscribers, and will increase Hulu’s ad-free plan to $12.99 a month and its ad-supported tier to $6.99 a month.
It does not affect subscribers to Hulu’s Live TV plans, which costs $65 a month for access to live linear channels in addition to Hulu originals and on-demand shows, nor does it affect the price of the Disney Bundle, which costs $13.99 a month for Disney+, ESPN+ and an ad-supported version of Hulu.
Between the lines
The price hike is the third such increase this year across Disney streaming services as the company looks for additional revenue to fund its grown investment in original and exclusive programming. Disney+ raised its prices in March by $1, to $7.99 a month, to help fund an accelerated push into originals; last month, ESPN+, which has been steadily collecting more live sports rights and boosting its originals output, also set a $1 increase, to $6.99 a month.
For Hulu, which last quarter counted 42.8 million total subscribers, the price increase comes as the company continues to look to churn out more breakthrough original hits, including the recent Only Murders in the Building and Nine Perfect Strangers.
Bottom line
The price hike could serve as a big boost to the Disney Bundle, which has been the focus of a major marketing push from Disney as the company looks to lock down even more subscribers and find ways to reduce churn.
With the $1 increase, the Disney Bundle now looks like an even better deal. A subscription to Disney Bundle is just $13.99 a month, only a dollar more than the new price of Hulu’s ad-free tier. It’s also one dollar cheaper than subscribing to Hulu’s ad-supported tier and Disney+ separately, which as of October will total $14.99 a month.
