Hulu Is Raising Subscription Prices Next Month
Don't get too comfortable with your current monthly rate for Hulu. The streaming service has announced that they will be raising prices for their ad-supported and ad-free subscriptions by $1 starting on October 8. This applies to current and new subscribers, taking the ad-supported tier from $5.99 to $6.99 a month and the ad-free tier from $11.99 to $12.99 a month.
Disney's Most Profitable Streamer
The Hollywood Reporter has news on Hulu raising subscription prices in October. However, even though individual ad-supported and ad-free subscription prices are going up, the plans that include live-streaming television will not be rising in price at this time. Plus, if you get Hulu as part of the Disney streaming bundle, which includes Disney+ and ESPN+ along with ad-supported Hulu, your price will not be increasing either.
Over the past year, Disney has been increasing the costs of all their streaming services. Most recently, ESPN+ increased its price from $5.99 to $6.99 per month. Back in March, Disney+ subscriptions went up by $1 to a price of $7.99 a month, the first price increase since the service launched in November 2019. And finally, December of 2020 saw the live TV offerings increase in price by $10, making the monthly fee $65 to enjoy what amounts to a streaming cable subscription.
All things considered, this isn't an unreasonable price increase. Hulu's offerings have only gotten better since Disney became a majority shareholder, especially with the FX on Hulu initiative making the streaming service home to some of the best shows on television right now, from "What We Do in the Shadows" to "Atlanta." Plus, Hulu is currently enjoying the buzz surrounding "Nine Perfect Strangers" and the success of the R-rated comedy "Vacation Friends," which apparently had a huge streaming debut that was enough to put a sequel in development.
Hulu is clearly looking to get a little more bang for their buck from their 42.8 million subscribers. That makes sense when you consider the fact that Hulu is Disney's most profitable streaming service. According to the House of Mouse itself, Hulu is making $13.50 for each of their streaming subscriptions and $84.09 for those with the live TV bundle. Even though Disney+ has 116 million subscribers, nearly triple the number of Hulu subscribers, the family friendly streamer is only bringing in $4 for each subscriber.
Hopefully, as Hulu grows, we'll see Disney sending them more of their library titles that don't fit in over at Disney+ due to adult content. After all, there are plenty of 20th Century Fox movies that would benefit from having a regular streaming home at Hulu.