Disney Plus

Disney Plus is a subscription-based video on-demand streaming service owned by the Walt Disney Company’s Media and Entertainment Distribution Division. Launched in November 2019, Disney Plus became home to a wide variety of content produced by Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Television, as well as content from Disney-aligned brands like Pixar, 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox), Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Through Disney Plus, users have access to a large library of films and television shows. Disney Plus also hosts a growing lineup of original programming, such as the popular Star Wars series The Mandalorian (2019–) and unscripted documentary series like The Imagineering Story (2019). In addition, the streaming service eventually began hosting new first-run movies like Pixar’s Soul (2020).

Overview

Disney Plus is one of the many video streaming services available to consumers interested in alternatives or supplements to traditional cable or satellite television. Streaming services typically allow users to watch movies, television shows, and other video content through a web browser, streaming devices, smart televisions, or smartphones. While some of these services simply offer large libraries of on-demand content, others also provide users with access to live television or other live content. Regardless of what type of content they provide, streaming services became increasingly popular after they first began to appear in the late 1990s. Beginning in the 2010s, some even grew into major producers of original content in their own right, greatly disrupting the traditional media distribution model.

At the time of its launch, Disney Plus entered an already crowded field of streaming services being used by subscribers around the world. Two of the most popular of these services were the providers Netflix and Hulu. Others included HBO Max (later renamed Max), Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and Apple TV+. When it debuted in November 2019, Disney Plus immediately became one of the top streaming platforms in terms of viewership. While there were some early criticisms over missing or incorrectly ordered episodes within certain series on the platform, among other technical glitches, the initial response to the service was largely positive among both consumers and media analysts.

Much of Disney Plus’s initial success was driven by the fact that it was the only streaming platform that gave subscribers access to Disney’s vast content library, including numerous animated and live action films, classic cartoons, television shows, and documentaries. Because the Walt Disney Company owned other large entertainment brands like Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Studios (20th Century Fox) by 2019, Disney Plus was also able to serve as the exclusive streaming home of the content associated with those brands. In addition, Disney Plus also produced an array of original programming, finding notable early success with the popular Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Unlike most other streaming platforms, Disney Plus did not feature any explicit adult content, although some PG-13 films in the Disney repertoire, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, were available to stream on the service during the early 2020s.

At the time of its launch, a subscription to Disney Plus cost $6.99 per month. (The price was increased to $7.99 in 2021). Bundle plans with other streaming services such as Hulu and ESPN+ also were made available. The service could be accessed via computer, streaming devices, smartphones, smart TVs, and some video game consoles. Disney Plus content could be streamed in cutting-edge formats such as 4K Ultra HD in Dolby Vision, HDR10, and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. It also provided subscribers access to unlimited mobile downloads for offline viewing. After debuting in the United States and a few other countries, Disney Plus was made available more widely over the next few years. By early 2021, the service had surpassed 100 million subscribers.

In 2022, it was announced that a less expensive ad-supported version of Disney Plus would be released. When the ad-supported option debuted later that year, it cost $7.99 per month, while the ad-free version was increased to $10.99 per month. After several years of strong growth, the platform reported its first drop in subscriber numbers in late 2022. In September 2025, the streaming service announced another price increase.

Meanwhile, the service worked toward expanding its offerings; notably, in June 2023, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), the second film in director James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar sci-fi franchise and one of the highest-grossest films of all time, became available to stream on the service. However, Disney Plus did not have exclusive streaming rights to Avatar at that time, due to a joint streaming rights deal with Max (formerly HBO Max) that allowed Max to share streaming windows with Disney+ and Hulu for half of Twentieth Century Studio's titles through the 2022 release year.

Disney Plus faced another controversy after Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air for political reasons in September 2025. Kimmel's show was on ABC, a network owned by Disney. Cancellation rates that month doubled for both Disney Plus and Hulu, suggesting the decision to take Kimmel off the air may have hurt the company financially. While Kimmel was reinstated, Disney's analytics showed about 3 million cancellations in the month.

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