You can now get cheap Disney+ in the UK but there’s a catch
There's now a cheaper tier, but some will pay more for previously standard features
Plenty of streaming services are opting to include a cheaper package that displays ads, offering the service at a cheaper price. The catch is that while the monthly subscription price is less, you have to watch ads for the privilege.
There was already an ad-supported plan in the US, but Disney+ has previously held off on offering a similar package anywhere else. Now though, the new cheap Disney+ tier has started to roll out in the UK today as part of a wider global rollout.
The Disney+ subscription plan with ads is called Standard with Ads. It gives you a cheaper option to choose from. It costs £4.99 per month, with no option for an annual payment. Currently, the cheapest subscription is £7.99 per month (now called Standard), so the new tier enables you to save £3 per month (though Standard does have a cheaper annual option, see below). New subscribers can select Standard with Ads when they sign up, and existing viewers will be able to switch over.
In the US, the ad-supported plan launched at $7.99 per month back in 2022, called Disney Plus Basic.
With Disney+ Standard with Ads, you’ll get access to the entire catalog of titles, two streams at once, 5.1 audio, and 1080p resolution. You won’t, however, be able to download anything for offline viewing. But Disney+ is introducing some other changes to its subscriptions that’ll affect existing subscribers.
As we mentioned, the existing Standard plan stays at £7.99 per month or £79.90 per year but does drop some features (note that this plan is not available in the US). You can now only watch on two devices at once rather than four, and you are now restricted to 1080p content with 5.1 and stereo audio.
To watch 4K content with Dolby Atmos sound and get four streams, you’ll need the Premium plan. It costs £10.99 per month or £109.90 per year. Existing subscribers will be automatically upgraded at launch. (In the US this is $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year.)
While a cheaper subscription with ads will be a welcome addition to both new and existing Disney+ subscribers, the additional price hike for Premium features people got as standard before will surely annoy some.
Disney+ UK tiers at a glance
| Standard with Ads | Standard | Premium | |
| Ads | Ad-supported streaming | Ad-free streaming | Ad-free streaming |
| Subscriptions | Monthly: £4.99 | Monthly: £7.99 Annually: £79.90 | Monthly: £10.99 Annually: £109.90 |
| Video Quality | Up to 1080p Full HD video | Up to Full HD 1080p video | Up to 4k UHD & HDR video |
| Concurrent Streams | 2 concurrent streams | 2 concurrent streams | 4 concurrent streams |
| Downloads | X | Downloads on up to 10 devices | Downloads on up to 10 devices |
| Audio | Up to 5.1 audio | Up to 5.1 audio | Up to Dolby Atmos audio |
Connor Jewiss
With contributions from
