Disney Plus gets second price hike in less than a year

For the second time in less than a year, Disney Plus is upping its prices again in Australia. Disney Plus Standard is going up by $2 per month and Disney Plus Premium (the 4K plan) is going up by $3 per month. As a result, the discounted annual plans will be going up too. 

It's been a solid few years for streaming service price hikes. The most egregious of the bunch force ads on to existing customers then ask them to pay to get rid of them (cough ACCC.) Thankfully, this round of Disney Plus price hikes is fairly straightforward: you're simply paying more for what you already had. 

Disney Plus Standard customers will now pay $15.99 per month for HD streaming on two devices (previously $13.99 per month.) Disney Plus Premium subscribers will now pay $20.99 per month for four devices and 4K viewing (previously $17.99 per month.)

Annual subscriptions will go up from $139.99 to $159.99 per year for Standard plans, and from $179.99 to $209.99 per year for Premium plans. 

If you pay monthly, your yearly cost for Standard will now be $191.88 and if you pay for Premium, your annual cost will be ratched up to $251.88 per year. 

It might not seem like much month by month but there were an estimated 3.1 million Australians subscribed to Disney Plus in 2024. And every single one of them will be charged $2 to $3 more from 26 March 2025 onwards. Not a bad little payday for the House of Mouse all things considered. 

Here are those price hikes again, in short. 

So far, Disney hasn't justified the signficant local price hike except to say it will be "continuing to offer consumers an attractive value proposition and flexibility." Which is exactly what I'd say if I just spent that much money on Captain America: Brave New World and needed to recoup the cost. 

The other running theory is that Disney Plus is upping the price to prepare for its local ESPN launch. That will make sense if it's included by default, like Disney Plus Star, but then why wouldn't you advertise that, rather than pre-emptively raising subscription prices. Time will tell, I guess.

Stay tuned to Reviews.org for more of your favourite price hike stories.