You’re going to have to pay a little more for two of Hulu’s most popular plans starting October 8, 2021. The most basic Hulu plan, which includes advertising on its on-demand content, will increase from $6 a month to $7 a month, or $60 to $70 if you pay annually. And if you want to get rid of most of the advertising, you’ll see that price go from $12 a month to $13 a month.
That’s not the largest of increases by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s also not nothing. The increase for the basic Hulu plan is about 17%, getting Hulu without advertising is only going up about 8%.
Hulu notes that if you’re using its service on a promotional offer, or you have some sort of discount, those rates will remain in effect. Also unchanged are
Hulu remains a pretty huge part of owner Disney’s direct-to-consumer play. Some 39.1 million customers are subscribed to
Hulu is the greater cash cow, though, bringing in $13.15 per user per month for SVOD, and $84.09 per user for
The gamble, of course, comes with the blowback. Certainly, some number of users will jump ship and move on at the first sign of a price increase. But Hulu isn’t immune to price increases, and it has enjoyed six straight quarters of growth, since the full Disney takeover, up nearly 44% since the first quarter of FY2020.
There is another side-effect to all this, too. The almighty Disney Bundle — which gets you Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ for a single monthly (or annual) price — now looks even more attractive at $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year. (The bundle also has options to get rid of ads on
Good luck telling that to the folks who are about to have to open up their wallets that much more, however.
