Disney+ now with advertising: The 10 most important questions and answers

Luca Fontana

1.11.2023

Translation: machine translated

As of today, Disney+ is also available at a lower price, but with adverts. This makes the House of Mouse a pioneer in Switzerland. I'll answer the 10 most important questions.

So now the time has come: Disney has a new plan structure. Specifically: If you want to continue to enjoy the same benefits of a Disney+ plan as before, you will have to pay more. However, those who are prepared to accept adverts when streaming will pay less. This is thanks to the new, ad-financed plan. I have reported on this:

This makes Disney the first major streaming service in Switzerland to offer an "ad-supported" plan that goes beyond playing film and series trailers. However, what exactly this "advertising support" - as Disney calls it - looks like has not yet been communicated. I therefore had the 10 most important questions answered at the press lunch organised by Disney in Berlin at the beginning of the week.

1. first things first: What does the new plan structure look like?

The main new feature is the ad-supported plan: It is cheaper than the previous standard plan, but content is interrupted by ad breaks. The "new" standard plan is the same price as the "old" plan, but no longer offers the highest picture and sound quality. This is now only available with the more expensive Premium subscription. Existing customers are automatically upgraded to it.

In Europe, this new structure is being introduced today, 1 November, in nine countries. These include Switzerland and Germany.

2 How can I change my plan?

As of today, you can find the new "Change plan" tab in your account settings under "Plan". There you can choose between the three new models. The following applies: Your plan and the associated price will only be converted with the next billing period.

3 So when exactly will I start paying more?

If you have just taken out an annual subscription, the old price of 129 francs per year will apply until the subscription expires. Only after that will you be charged the 179 francs, so you don't need to worry about paying extra. The same applies if you pay per month: if your current billing period runs until 15 November, for example, everything will remain the same until then. Even if you switch to an ad-supported plan today, you won't see ads until 15 November - and the new price won't be charged until then.

Of course, the same applies vice versa: if you don't want an expensive Premium plan for 17.90 francs per month, you have until your next billing period to switch to a cheaper model. Even if your settings already show "Disney+ Premium", the new price will only apply from the date you receive your next bill.

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4. How much advertising will I see with the new plan?

At the press lunch, Disney is currently talking about up to 4 minutes per hour. They repeatedly emphasised that this is significantly less than the usual 12 minutes per hour from linear television. However, the word "currently" was also emphasised. According to the media managers, it is not impossible that there could be more adverts per hour in the distant future. In other words: there will be more adverts per hour. The only question is when.

5. When will I see adverts?

Disney will differentiate between films and series when displaying adverts. For films, there will only be advertising before the film. Namely:

• 1-3 adverts of 30 seconds each or
• a single 90-second advert

In series, on the other hand, there may be several interruptions during the programme. To ensure that an advert is not played in the middle of the dialogue, the studio should have already determined exactly where an interruption may occur for each piece of content. In the example shown from "The Mandalorian", for example, between two takes, where a turbo door closes in the first take and opens again in the second. Also practical: if you pause the episode, you can already see where and how often adverts are being shown by means of small markings on the running time bar at the bottom.

And: As with YouTube, you can always see a small countdown in the top right-hand corner of the screen, which shows you how many adverts you can still expect and how long they will last.

6. So is there suddenly a 12-minute long advert block after "Avatar"?

The logic isn't that far-fetched. If Disney says they show a maximum of 4 minutes of advertising per hour, but only a maximum of 90 seconds at the beginning of films, then you might think that after a 3-hour film like "Avatar", the next advertising block will suddenly show significantly more advertising. After all, it should be "4 minutes per hour" on average.

This is not the case, Disney assures me. The counter starts from zero every hour. So anyone who only watches films will - for the time being - hardly scratch the 4-minute-per-hour brand. This could change in the future if Disney decides to include adverts in films not only before but also during the running time.

7. Which adverts will I see?

Colleagues with young children at home asked the question at the press lunch. Disney reassured them: the adverts should always be curated. A distinction is made between three categories:

• Advertising from 0-6 years
• Advertising from the age of 12
• Advertising from 16-18 years

So if you are watching "Cinderella" with your children, you don't have to worry that your child will be shown adverts aimed at an adult audience at the beginning of the film

8. Is the content in the ad-supported plan different from the other subscription models?

No. And that is a big difference to our competitor Netflix, which has already launched its ad-supported plan in Germany. For licensing reasons, however, Netflix is not allowed to place adverts for all content. This does not apply to in-house productions, but to some purchased content from other studios and TV stations. These are therefore not included in the ad-financed plan.

Disney is not aware of the problem. After all, all studios and TV stations that produce content for Disney+ belong to Disney. This means there are no licensing issues. So anyone with an ad-supported plan enjoys exactly the same content as other Disney+ subscribers.

9. Who is the ad-supported plan for?

At the press lunch, Disney spoke primarily about budget-conscious people. According to its own market analyses, there is a potentially large market of people who would afford a Disney+ subscription if it cost less. These people also tend not to have large UHD televisions with HDR support and would therefore voluntarily forego it if the plan were cheaper.

On the other hand, Disney assumes that the budget of people and families with large, modern televisions usually also allows for a more expensive premium subscription - and they want to make the most of this. After all, it is no secret that Disney's streaming division is still incurring high losses in the three-digit million range - per quarter. The decision to raise prices there is therefore primarily a business decision.

10. What will happen to the advertising subscription in future?

As I said, the word "currently" was particularly important to the Disney crew at the press lunch. They did not want to make any promises that would not be kept later. What that means is clear. You can therefore be sure that there will be more advertising on Disney+ in the medium to long term than there is today.

The short-term future, on the other hand, should be explained. Disney+ Germany is not expecting a rush on the advertising-supported subscription plan in the beginning anyway. It was no different in the USA. In the meantime, however, around 50 per cent of all new plans are said to be ad-supported. That shows: After initial scepticism, it would be mainly the customers who took out an advertising-supported plan right at the beginning who convinced their friends and family of the benefits of the new model.

Apropos: The new subscription structure also comes with new terms of use. Disney now clearly states that account sharing is prohibited. You can find out what consequences this has for you here.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more

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