Binge in solitude, with ads for company
Source: Disney
Streaming platforms want two things: as big an audience as possible, and to collect as much money from that audience as they can. When people stop wanting to sign up and pay, introducing an ad-supported tier can be one way to continue fueling growth. That’s exactly why Hulu and HBO Max have their own such tiers, Netflix is just about to follow up with one of its own, and Disney Plus is due to launch its offering before the year’s out. Early details about that new Disney Plus tier are trickling in, and it looks like ad-supported viewers might end up missing out on some features.
An analysis of text strings appearing in the Disney Plus app (this appears to be an iOS build) sure seems to suggested that viewers on the ad-supported tier won’t be able to use SharePlay or GroupWatch. There doesn’t seem to be a ton of room for interpretation here, with the message plainly stating the features will be unavailable for “accounts on the ads tier.”
If you were planning to join a friend’s binge party or host your own using the upcoming $8 plan, you might just have to give up on that dream. GroupWatch is Disney’s equivalent of Apple SharePlay, allowing you to co-watch shows and flicks with other subscribers you know. The move seems reasonably logical, considering viewers won’t want to tolerate advertisements if just one of their co-watchers has the ad-supported plan.
We aren’t surprised Disney Plus is trimming the list of supported features for its new tier. Netflix, for instance, limits ad-supported streaming to 720p resolution without the convenience of downloading for offline consumption. Disney Plus could have similar restrictions in place, but we might not have the full picture until it’s closer to going live
Disney Plus with ads arrives for customers on December 8. For now, the $8 pricing seems close to Netflix’s $7 and on par with Hulu’s $8 for the ad-supported tiers.
