Disney CEO Bob Iger at the premiere of “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band” in October 2024 (Etienne Laurent/Getty Images)

Adding Up

Now streaming with ads is getting more expensive

It’s still cheaper — and more profitable — than ad-free!

Rani Molla

11/14/24 11:19AM

When I last looked at streaming subscription prices this summer, it had been getting more expensive to stream without ads, as companies like Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery hoped to push consumers to their lower-cost but often more profitable ad tiers.

Since then, many of these companies have raised their rates — particularly on ad-supported subs. Hulu went up $2 to $9.99 per month for ads and just $1 to $18.99 for ad-free. It was the same situation for Paramount+, whose ad price grew to $7.99 from $5.99, while ad-free went to $12.99 from $11.99. Meanwhile, Disney+ and Peacock raised their prices $2 for both ad-supported and ad-free tiers.

What’s going on? First off: they can. Second off: even if they raise rates on ad-supported subscriptions, those prices are still cheaper than ad-free. So raising prices on ad-free tiers, even if it’s less of a raise than on ad tiers, will still push people to the ultimately cheaper ad tiers, which are more profitable than ad-free.

Here’s Disney CEO Bob Iger saying just that:

“It’s not just about raising pricing. It’s about moving consumers to the advertiser-supported side of the streaming platform,” he said after today’s earnings report. “The pricing that we recently put into place, which is increased pricing, was actually designed to move more people in the AVOD direction,” or advertising-based video on demand, “because we know the ARPU and interest in it from advertisers and streaming has grown.”

About 60% of all new subscribers chose the ad-supported plan. Some 37% of total subscribers in the US currently subscribe to that tier. Disney reported a streaming profit — $321 million in Q4 up from $47 million in Q3 — for its second quarter in a row.

Hyunsoo Rim

hardly working

5/27/26

Teens aren’t getting summer jobs like they used to — this year could be worse than ever

Teen summer hiring in the US might hit its lowest level since federal tracking began, new report finds.

Saleah Blancaflor

5/15/26

From Desi Arnaz to SpaceX: Understanding the rules of the modern economy

We talked with “Planet Money” author Alex Mayyasi about how AI might help or replace you, the superstar effect, and how the compounding effect extends beyond money.

Globes covered with various currencies suspended in space

Millie Giles5/8/26

Ahead of Mother’s Day, Google searches for “same day flower delivery” have ticked up a little earlier this year

If you’ve already made plans for a Mother’s Day gift in advance of this Sunday, congratulations. But if alarm bells are suddenly ringing, consider this a gentle reminder that, like a sizable share of the US population this time of year often does, you can still scrape together some last-minute flowers for the woman who carried you for nine months.

Data from Google Trends reveals that searches for “same day flower delivery” spike in the US in May every year, when Mother’s Day takes place. As we noted last February, the same query also gains traction around Valentine’s Day.

This year, however, it appears that searches for last-minute flowers have remained elevated in the last two months after the usual peak in February — with the search interest this April actually exceeding that seen around Cupid’s Day.

Honestly, we’re not sure why searches are spiking a little early. One explanation might be that Passover and Easter have overlapped at the start of April, and Americans wanted to celebrate with some flowers. Maybe it’s a host of Claude bots that are now running errands for AI-obsessed execs — or perhaps Americans are just impulse-buying some seasonal spring blooms after an unusually warm March, without a particular occasion.