Disney is discussing a low-cost, ad-supported tier for its Disney+ streaming service in the United States.
The Information first reported the story on Wednesday, quoting a person involved in the discussions. The House of Mouse wants to reach profitability on its direct-to-consumer business by 2024 and the new tier is seen as a way of providing a boost to new subscriber take up that is currently going through a lull.
The combination of paid and advertising supported tiers is one already accepted by WarnerMedia (HBO Max), Discovery, NBC Universal (Peacock) and Paramount Global. It’s also an acceptance that streaming is the ultimate destination over linear.
Disney currently has 129.8 million subscribers, it added 11.8 million paid subscribers in the quarter ending January 1, 2022, but only 2.1 million in the quarter before that.
The streamer is already much broader than just Disney-branded content with Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic sitting alongside Star, which has been adopted as the global entertainment brand over that of the US network ABC.
