Disney will raise the price of ESPN+, its subscription sports streaming service, from $5.99 to $6.99 per month beginning in August.
The monthly rate bump also means that yearly subscriptions to ESPN+ will increase to $69.99 per year, up from $59.99. However, the price for the bundle of ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu bundle will stay at $13.99 per month and the cost of UFC pay-per-view matches on ESPN+ will also stay the same.
The price increase follows a similar $1 per month bump in August 2020. ESPN+ also increased the cost of year subscriptions in December 2020.
In March, Disney+ raised its price in the U.S. to $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year, while the Disney Bundle climbed to $13.99 per month.
RELATED: Deeper Dive—The inevitable Disney+ price increase has arrived
ESPN+ ended the most recent quarter with 13.8 million subscribers and an average revenue per user of $4.55, up 7% year over year, which Disney attributed to a price increase.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer revenues for the most recent quarter increased 59% to $4 billion and operating loss decreased from $0.8 billion to $0.3 billion. The company attributed the decrease in operating loss to improved results at Hulu and ESPN+. The company said the improvement at ESPN+ was driven by subscriber growth and higher income from UFC pay-per-view events.
ESPN+ has added some important distribution points this year through deals with Hulu and Comcast’s X1 and Flex.
While Amazon made the biggest streaming splash amid the most recent NFL rights deals, ESPN+ will also get in on the action. During upcoming NFL seasons, ESPN+ subscribers will be able to stream one International Series game on an exclusive national basis every season and the new agreement allows ESPN the opportunity to simulcast all ABC and ESPN games on ESPN+.