It’s all go in the streaming world this week! After reports that Netflix is considering adding live channels and BBC iPlayer potentially hosting Channel 4 shows, we have new speculation Disney+ is considering adding a free streaming tier.
The service began as ad-free, then added a tier with ads for a reduced fee. Now, Business Insider reports, Disney wants to being more people into the fold by dropping the paywall on certain content.
The word reportedly comes from a company town hall meeting where product and technology boss Adam Smith raised the prospect of offering some Disney+ content free of charge. While Smith did not go into detail, according to BI’s source, it might be a smart way for the fabled House of Mouse to bring some new viewers into the fold and serve some advertisements because Mickey doesn’t work for free.
It comes amid the rise of free streaming platforms in the United States, where the likes of Tubi TV and YouTube are amassing a growing share of the eyeballs, mainly because there’s an abundance of something to watch without opening a wallet.
As TechCrunch points out, the US ratings aggregator Neilson reckons that free streaming platforms now account for 18.7% of viewing time on the best screens in the house. That’s a number that’s grown from each of the last two years.
What Disney chooses to offer remains to be seen, It may take the Apple TV approach and offer the premiere of each new series to try and get viewers hooked. Or maybe it’ll be the Peacock approach where you can sit through a few adds and enjoy some popular legacy content.
Either way it’s a nice people to get through the door and promote all of what Disney+ has to offer while getting itself a chunk of that free streaming audience.
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