UNITED STATES— Disney’s streaming platform, Disney Plus, is no longer offering a free seven-day trial of its service.
This was first noticed by French news site Numerama on Friday, June 19. When logging in to make a new account, the platform only has the option to “Start watching Disney + today” instead of its previous option to “Start your free 7-day trial.”
A Disney Plus spokesperson told The Verge, “We continue to test and evaluate different marketing, offers, and promotions to grow Disney+. The service was set at an attractive price-to-value proposition that we believe delivers a compelling entertainment offering on its own.”
The exact timing of when the platform removed the free trial option is not clear; however, the timing comes strategically weeks before Disney Plus is to premiere a recording of the Broadway production of Hamilton on July 3. The recording features the original Broadway cast from a performance in 2016, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, and more.
Without the free trial option, customers will have to pay for the streaming service for $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. There is also an option to pay $12.99 a month for a bundle that includes Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN+.
The streaming platform had 54.5 million subscribers in early May of this year, just 6 months after the streaming platform launched.
Other streaming platforms continue to offer free trials, with Netflix’s lasting 30 days and HBO Max and Hulu’s lasting 7 days.
