American video site Hulu confirmed on Tuesday that it will increase the price of its on-demand service package. Prior to this, Disney+ and ESPN+ prices were also raised by $1. Hulu’s most popular advertising support program will cost $6.99 per month, an increase of $1. The company said the price of its ad-free version will increase from $11.99 to $12.99. The price adjustment will take effect from October 8th and will apply to new and existing users, and not to Disney’s bundling or live TV plans.
The Disney bundle includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, and costs $13.99 per month. As more and more companies join this crowded field, initially streaming media services have drastically cut prices to attract new users. However, as more and more users registered, these companies began to spend millions of dollars on their content, and they began to charge higher fees to continue to provide users with exclusive shows and movies.
Disney said in its fiscal 2021 third-quarter earnings report that as of the end of the quarter, Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu had nearly 174 million subscriptions. Disney said that including 42.8 million Hulu paid users, 39.1 million users subscribed to Hulu’s on-demand service, excluding TV live. Earlier this year, after ESPN+ agreed to a series of new sports broadcasting rights agreements, Disney raised ESPN+’s monthly fee by US$1 to US$6.99.
In March of this year, the company also raised the price of Disney+ by $1 to $7.99 per month. This is the first price increase since the service was launched.
