Disney recently announced that all Disney+ customers — even those with ad-free subscriptions — will start seeing promotional content throughout their streaming.
“Ads will be served in select live and linear programming, regardless of your Disney+ plan,” Disney explained to users on its website. “Your experience may also include certain promotional or sponsored content.”
The company first introduced ad-supported subscriptions in 2022, but the recent changes introduce promotional content to every subscription tier, including premium “ad-free” plans.
Many consumers have taken to social media to share their disdain for the decision.
“It really defeats the purpose of paying higher-tier subs,” one said.
Others are saying that the introduction of ads will cause them to cancel their subscriptions.
Some upset users are reposting an image merging the Disney+ and Hulu logos to create a mocking logo that says “Delulu.”
While some customers complain, however, others are saying the change doesn’t bother them.
“I consider them commercial breaks. I can grab snacks or whatever lol,” one user said.
“The ads were created for bathroom and kitchen breaks anyway,” another said.
The introduction of commercials was simply inevitable, others argue.
Disney said the ads will be shown before a video starts and throughout playback and users will not be able to fast-forward through them. Ads will also be shown during select live content, such as special events, TV streams and much of the featured ESPN sports content.
Additionally, for users 18 years and older, promotional content will be personalized based on location and streaming habits. Ads will not be shown to profiles set to “Junior Mode,” a setting in which content is filtered and limited to be appropriate for all ages.