Disney Dares to Raise Prices on Streaming Services After Profit Doubles

The Walt Disney Company is raising prices for its streaming services, including Disney+ and Hulu. The ad-free versions of both services will now cost $21.49 per month, a 13% increase from the previous price of $18.99. The ad-supported tiers will also see an increase to $12.49 per month.

This move comes weeks after Disney reported that its combined streaming operation had more than doubled its operating profit, reaching roughly $712 million from $329 million a year prior. Revenue rose 11% to $5.53 billion, and the margin on that business expanded to about 13%, up from six.

The pricing increase is not seen as an attempt to plug a hole in a money-losing experiment but rather an exercise of pricing power for its own sake. Disney has stopped disclosing how many subscribers it has, making it harder to gauge the impact of the price hike on customer retention.