Subscription Fatigue causing Disney Plus to consider a Free Streaming Option?

Disney Plus is considering a completely free, ad-supported option for its industry leading streaming service. The move is being considered to combat growing subscriber fatigue, cost of living issues, and rising competition from free platforms like Youtube, Tubi and Pluto TV. The shift would be a major change from Disney’s current digital strategy.

Streaming services, including Disney Plus late last year, have been increasing prices regularly for years and consumers are starting to feel the pinch. Free services such as YouTube, Tubi, and Pluto TV are growing quickly, capturing almost 20% of all U.S. television watch time. Disney likely hopes to capture a piece of this advertising only market and reduce subscriber churn rate.

A free version of Disney Plus would likely only provide access to a curated selection of older films and classic television shows. This strategy would allow Disney to encourage viewers to upgrade to it’s premium service with access to the latest movies and TV shows while earn advertising income from the free version viewership.

The main competitors for Disney Plus like Netflix currently have no free option. If Disney Plus were to push ahead with this idea it would add millions of viewers to it’s platform and give it a leg up on it’s competition.