Disney plans to raise ESPN+'s monthly subscription from $6.99 to $9.99 and its annual price from $69.99 to $99.99, 43% increases, starting on August 23, 2022
here's how to get around it Techhive.com : ESPN+ will hike its monthly price to $9.99, a $3 monthly increase Investing.com : Disney's ESPN+ to hike monthly subscription by $3 The Verge : ESPN Plus is about to get even more expensive Jack Wannan / Knockdown News : Knockdown Daily 7/16/22: ESPN+ Price To Increase By Three Dollars Alexander Maxham / Android Headlines : ESPN+ Will Almost Double In Price Next Month & It's Not Due To Inflation Matt Tamanini / The Streamable : ESPN+ to Raise Price by 43% Next Month; Disney Bundle Price Unaffected... for Now TBD : Reviewing ESPN's Wimbledon Coverage Dade Hayes / Deadline : ESPN+ Price Will Rise 43% In August, Reflecting Increase In Live Sports Offerings Kris Holt / Engadget : ESPN+ is raising the price of a monthly plan by $3 to $10 Tweets: @alsharptongue : Madness. Subscription fatigue is going to be the failure of a LOT of these streaming services. https://twitter.com/... Oscar Combs / @wildcatnews : All those millions of $$$$s being paid to big-time college football/basketball factories are quickly being passed on to their fans who watch on ESPN. And it's about to go sky high. UK's season opener with Miami will be on ESPN+, a service whose monthly fee is going up 43 percent. https://twitter.com/... Brandon Marcello / @bmarcello : And FOLKS, just in time for college football season https://twitter.com/... Andy Staples / @andy_staples : FIFY: Disney is raising the monthly subscription fee for ESPN+ by $3, right before football season begins and every fan of an SEC school will have to subscribe to watch their team's worst game. https://twitter.com/... @sportstvratings : “More profits' from streaming seems a bit misleading. According to the story the Disney bundle (DIS+, ESPN+, Hulu) price isn't changing at this time. Is it a bid to lose less or to push everyone to the Disney bundle? https://twitter.com/... Robert Joyner / @robnashville : Hey UFC PPV buyers, your double paywall just got a little bit higher.... Paying for those ppv's even in the months you aren't buying them... https://twitter.com/... Alex Morris / @tsoh_investing : “Starting August 23, 2022, the price of an ESPN+ subscription will rise to $9.99 per month... ESPN last announced a price hike for its streaming service in July of last year, and raised the monthly price to $6.99, compared with $5.99.” https://variety.com/... @orangegrove55 : BREAKING: Disney trying to make money like every other company on the planet. https://twitter.com/... Chris Vannini / @chrisvannini : Notable news ahead of college football season. Some SEC and Big 12 games, along with a lot of G5, are on ESPN+. https://twitter.com/... @barstoolecu : Raise it to 50 and I'd still buy it. I refuse to miss college sports for anything https://twitter.com/... Andy Glockner / @andyglockner : This is jarring, but ESPN+ was the rare service that was underpriced (at least for what I consume), so it's understandable that they'd market-adjust. https://twitter.com/... Michael Preston / @rm_preston : More money to pay for the massive Pac-12 deal that's incoming, right? RIGHT???? https://twitter.com/... @ercboxoffice : As long as there's more ESPN THE OCHO coverage, I'm in. ESPN+ Monthly Subscription to Rise $3 as Disney Strives for Streaming Profits https://variety.com/... via @variety See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Disney had already moved ESPN+ from $6 to $7 per month in 2021 while holding the Disney bundle at $14, following an earlier increase in the annual plan for new subscribers. The new increase sharply widens the price of ESPN+ on its own without changing the bundle price.
The move is an early step in a longer ESPN distribution shift: Disney later sought greater flexibility to sell ESPN directly to streaming customers while retaining standalone platform options.
First-order effects
- ESPN+ subscribers face $9.99 monthly and $99.99 annual pricing beginning August 23, with the annual option rising more steeply in dollar terms.
- Disney leaves the Disney bundle price unchanged, immediately improving its relative price position versus a standalone ESPN+ subscription.
Second-order effects
- The unchanged bundle gives Disney a clearer lever to move ESPN+-only customers toward Disney+ and Hulu rather than simply absorb the standalone increase.
- ESPN's eventual direct-to-consumer offering inherits a higher standalone price baseline, making the economics of a fuller sports service more central to Disney's streaming choices.
Third-order effects
- Repeated ESPN+ price increases alongside unchanged or differentiated bundles point to sports streaming being structured around tiering and package migration, not a single low-cost standalone offer.
- As Disney gains distribution flexibility, the boundary between ESPN+ and a direct ESPN service is likely to become a core pricing and product-design decision.
The trend: Disney is using recurring standalone price increases and bundle differentiation to prepare ESPN for a more direct-to-consumer streaming model.