From 7pm AEDT / 9pm NZDT on December 8 2022 (tonight), the cost for Disney Plus will be rising in both Australia and New Zealand. New subscribers can still sign up ahead of time to avoid an increase of AU$20 / NZ$20 per year, but current subscribers will have to pay more if their subscription renews post the price hike.
Aussies will start paying AU$13.99p/m or AU$139.99p/a for their subscriptions, while New Zealanders will need to fork out NZ$14.99p/m or NZ$149.99p/a. It’s an unwelcome early Christmas gift for many, though it’s not entirely unexpected from the streaming service. Disney had announced a price rise for the US back in August, but at the time other regions such as Australia and the UK had avoided such news.
This price rise coincides with the date of Disney Plus’s launch of an ad-supported tier in the US, which offers viewers a cheaper subscription option. Competitor Netflix officially launched its ad-supported tier back on November 3 across a number of regions including Australia, with the country also getting an ad-supported tier from local streaming service Binge in the first quarter of 2023.
So while there’s no official word on whether the Disney Plus ad-supported tier will be made available in Australia or New Zealand at this time, it’s reasonable to expect this option to hit the southern hemisphere sometime in the new year, especially now that both regions are privy to a price increase.
Get in quick to avoid this next hike
Today is your last chance to pick up a Disney Plus subscription at its current price of AU$11.99 / NZ$12.99 per month or AU$119.99 / NZ$129.99 for a year. While the price for Disney Plus can look a little steep even before this upcoming price rise, it does offer up a big variety of premium content including Disney original shows and movies, plus more from Star and big franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars.
This also isn’t Disney Plus’s first price hike since it landed in Australia and New Zealand back in 2019. Originally costing AU$8.99 / NZ$9.99 monthly, the price jumped to the current cost of AU$11.99 / NZ$12.99 a month when Disney added Star to its offerings in early 2021. This time, Disney won’t be doubling its library to justify the price rise, though more and more content is being added to the service each year.
The streaming service has plenty of content to look forward to in the next few years as well, with production starting up on Star Wars: The Acolyte and the likes of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever set to join the library once it’s finished its run in cinemas. However, whether these titles will be available on a cheaper ad-supported tier in Australia and New Zealand remains to be seen.
- Want to see how Disney Plus measures up to its competitors? We’ve compared every streaming service on offer in Australia right here.
