Price hikes have become a regular fixture in the streaming world, but Disney’s latest round includes a detail that’s a little more interesting than the headline numbers. Ad-free Disney+ Premium now costs $21.49 a month, up from $18.99 since Sept. 23, and the ad-supported version has risen to $12.49. The figure that stands out, though, is the one that hasn’t moved: the Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads, still at $12.99.
Two apps with commercials now cost $8.50 less than a single ad-free subscription, and after years of streaming services pricing consumers out on purpose, I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.
It’s mostly the absence of something
Elsewhere, paying more usually buys you something tangible. Netflix reserves 4K for its $26.99 Premium plan, and Amazon’s Prime Video Ultra add-on is now the only way to watch Prime Video in 4K and skip its ads. Disney+ takes a different approach: in the US, even the ad tier has offered 4K and HDR since December 2022. Beyond the missing ads, the extra $9 here gets you Dolby Atmos and downloads, but not much else.
Disney promised around four minutes of ads per hour when the ad tier launched, and if that’s still true, someone watching 20 hours a month pays about $0.11 per minute without ads, a fairly high price for time you might spend scrolling elsewhere.
Even the top tier has caveats. The US Disney subscriber agreement permits ads during some live programming, promotional clips, and sponsorships, and a September update to the European terms broadened the types of ad content that can be shown before and after playback on all plans (including Premium). On-demand movies and series still play ad-free, but “ad-free” is a much softer promise than it used to be.
We’re being steered by the bundle
The cheapest way in still comes with commercials
Disney has been guiding subscribers toward bundles for a while, largely because bundle subscribers are less likely to cancel. The difference now is the intensity: ad-free Disney+ alone is $21.49, the ad-free bundle with Hulu is $21.99, and the ad-supported bundle is $12.99, making the standalone Premium plan look like an option designed to be ignored. Even the ad-free bundle costs roughly half what you’d pay for the two services separately, since ad-free Hulu alone is also $21.49.
Bundling also suits Disney’s ad business. When Disney announced plans to fold Hulu into Disney+, then-CEO Bob Iger pointed to “greater advertising revenue potential,” and the combined app is still due by year’s end. More viewers on ad tiers in a single app means more ad slots to sell, and the numbers suggest it’s working. Comscore found Disney+ ad-tier viewing up 16 percentage points year over year through August 2025, a notable shift for a service that started out ad-free.
Why Disney won’t be the last
Every streamer has the same incentive
Netflix’s March price rise left Standard with Ads at $8.99, and ad-free Standard at $19.99, an $11 gap that’s even wider than Disney’s, and Amazon’s move to Ultra in April means skipping ads on Prime Video now costs more than before, while the base tier that comes with Prime lost 4K entirely. Ampere Analysis expects ad-supported tiers to account for over half of North American subscription revenue by year-end, as we found when streaming price rises began to slow, so the cheapest tier has every incentive to stay put while the premium tier keeps inching up.
Disney is exporting the model, too. A 7,000-won (roughly $5) ad tier launches in South Korea on Nov. 10, alongside price rises for existing plans, and there’s been talk of a free, ad-supported Disney+ tier in the US. Apple TV is the only major service still without an ad tier, even after a recent $2 rise to $14.99 a month, though I wouldn’t count on that lasting.
Should you still pay to get rid of the ads?
Only if you’d genuinely miss them
On paper, a cheaper ad tier looks like a win for subscribers, and $12.99 for both Disney+ and Hulu is solid value by current standards. The old logic has flipped, though, as ads are now the default and paying to remove them is the luxury.
If you only dip into Disney+ for the occasional Marvel or Star Wars release, I’d take the $12.99 bundle and put up with the ads, or subscribe just for the shows you care about and cancel in between. If you’re already paying $21.49 for Disney+ alone, I’d at least consider the ad-free bundle. It’s only $0.50 more and adds Hulu, which is a real benefit. Switching plans can end any promotional rate you’re already on, though, so check that before you change anything. Only the Premium plan supports Dolby Atmos, so if that’s your priority, it’s the clearest reason to pay extra.
Some have already decided Disney+ isn’t worth it anymore, and I suspect more will follow. Disney hasn’t said what the unified app will cost, but I’d be surprised if the gap between ad-supported and ad-free plans shrinks.
