Disney has provided some new insights into its ad-supported tier of Disney+. The cheaper entry point to Disney’s streaming service is expected to launch later this year in the U.S. and later in Canada and other regions next year.
In a report from Variety, Disney states that is approaching advertisements on Disney+ with caution. According to two media buyers with knowledge of the matter, Disney is worried about overwhelming its platform with ads. Apparently, the company is very cognisant of the effect ads can have on its family-oriented vision of Disney+ and wishes to not diminish that.
Additionally, Disney has reportedly begun informing agencies that the ad-supported tier of Disney+ will not accept ads regarding alcohol, cigarettes, or politics at launch. In addition, Disney+ will not feature ads from other media outlets or services Disney deems a competitor.
The report also states that Disney will not be running ads during shows geared towards a preschool audience. If a viewer is watching on a kid’s profile, ads will be removed from shows. However, ads will not run during content targeting a preschooler, regardless of the profile used.
When looking at the length of ad space each hour, Disney is said to be targeting a range of four minutes an hour. For comparison, HBO Max shows an equal four minutes of ads per hour in the U.S. Disney’s Hulu runs between nine to 12 ads in one hour. Disney+ aims to undercut that total fairly significantly.
Netflix is also looking at introducing an ad-supported tier in order to provide a cheaper subscription cost for its platform. The exact details are still fairly sparse. Though, news comes after the subscriber reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers during Q1 2022.
Disney’s planned ad-support tier aims to assist the company to reach its goal of seeing 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024. Ads are expected to launch in late 2022. For international markets, an ad-supported tier is said to launch in 2023.
