What you need to know
- The Walt Disney-owned streaming service is all set to hike its subscription pricing.
- ESPN+ could cost $9.99 a month or $99.99 per year starting next month.
- The current subscription is priced at $6.99/month and $69.99/year.
ESPN+ will reportedly hike its video subscription plan in the coming month. The streaming service, owned primarily by The Walt Disney Company, launched four years ago for $4.99 per month but has since raised its subscription to $6.99 per month as of August last year. However, this new price hike will be its most dramatic, increasing its subscription service cost by a whopping 43%.
It means users will have to pay $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year starting this August, the Sports Business Journal reports, marking a rather steep increase for the streaming service. That said, the new ESPN+ pricing remains comparatively lower than the competition. DAZN, another sports streaming service, has plans starting at $19.99 per month, and Bally Sports+ costs $20 per month, as The Sports Business Journal noted.
It's worth mentioning that this hike in price doesn't appear to affect the price of the Disney Bundle, which costs $13.99 per month and offers a combination of Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu in a single package.
The report further points out the growth ESPN+ has seen from 2019 to the second quarter of 2022, which now sits at around 22.3 subscribers as of Q4, 2022, according to Statista.
While the price hike may not be ideal for ESPN+ fans, it's not unheard of for streaming services to raise prices to continue investing in their services. As Variety notes, Disney has secured additional contracts for the service, including NHL, PGA Tour, MBL, and plenty more for customers to enjoy across various streaming devices.
All the tournaments outlined above will likely keep sports fans engaged enough to justify continuing their subscriptions or at least moving to the Disney Bundle for a few more bucks. Disney has been on a crusade to get more users to switch to the bundle, and this move could get more subscribers to consider the switch.
According to Variety, customers are expected to be informed of the change next week. It will be interesting to see how subscribers cope with the price increase when it comes around on August 23, 2022.
