After jacking up prices, Disney+ and Netflix consider offering free alternatives
After jacking up prices, Disney+ and Netflix consider offering free alternatives
在多次涨价后，Disney+ 和 Netflix 考虑提供免费替代方案
Disney is “exploring a free product” for streaming customers, CEO Josh D’Amaro confirmed in a call with investors today. D’Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger as Disney’s chief in March, said that a free Disney-owned streaming service would help Disney reach more “price-sensitive” customers, which is a “strategic priority” for Disney, according to a transcript of the call.
迪士尼首席执行官乔什·达马罗（Josh D’Amaro）在今天与投资者的电话会议中证实，迪士尼正在“探索一种免费产品”以服务流媒体用户。据会议记录显示，于今年 3 月接替鲍勃·伊格尔（Bob Iger）担任迪士尼负责人的达马罗表示，迪士尼旗下的免费流媒体服务将有助于触达更多“价格敏感型”客户，这被迪士尼视为一项“战略重点”。
A free streaming service would also generate more ad revenue, which has become increasingly important for streaming services challenged by plateauing subscriber numbers, subscriber churn, and competition from cheaper and free rivals. “Unlike a lot of our AVOD [advertising video on demand] competitors, we’re fairly well-sold, meaning more inventory would actually help us accelerate our ad revenue growth,” D’Amaro said.
免费流媒体服务还能带来更多的广告收入，对于那些面临订阅用户增长停滞、用户流失以及来自更廉价或免费竞争对手挑战的流媒体服务而言，这一点正变得愈发重要。“与我们许多 AVOD（广告视频点播）竞争对手不同，我们的广告位销售情况相当不错，这意味着更多的库存实际上将有助于我们加速广告收入的增长，”达马罗说道。
A free streaming product might also generate more interest in Disney+ subscriptions, the executive added. “A free offering could help us drive top-of-funnel Disney+ subscriber growth,” D’Amaro said, using a marketing term referring to the earliest stage of the customer acquisition funnel, where the focus is on building awareness. “Nothing specific to announce today, but definitely something that we’re considering.”
这位高管补充说，免费流媒体产品也可能激发人们对 Disney+ 订阅服务的更多兴趣。“免费产品可以帮助我们推动 Disney+ 订阅用户增长的‘漏斗顶端’，”达马罗使用了营销术语，指代客户获取漏斗的最早阶段，即重点在于建立品牌认知度。“今天没有什么具体的消息要宣布，但这绝对是我们正在考虑的事情。”
Disney executives didn’t detail what a free, Disney-owned streaming offering would look like. But a report from Business Insider last month claimed that the company was “discussing making some content accessible on Disney+ without a paywall, according to two people familiar with the matter.” The report noted that Adam Smith, chief product and technology officer at Disney, discussed free streaming content during a company meeting for streaming employees but “didn’t share a timeline for this initiative or a sense of the scope.”
迪士尼高管并未详细说明迪士尼旗下的免费流媒体产品会是什么样子。但据《商业内幕》（Business Insider）上个月的一篇报道称，据两位知情人士透露，该公司正在“讨论让 Disney+ 上的部分内容无需付费墙即可访问”。报道指出，迪士尼首席产品与技术官亚当·史密斯（Adam Smith）曾在一次流媒体员工内部会议上讨论过免费流媒体内容，但“并未分享该计划的时间表或范围”。
A free tier could help Disney+ stand out from other subscription video-on-demand platforms, like Netflix and HBO Max, amid frustration with constantly rising prices. Netflix is also cautiously considering a free streaming product. “A free offering could make sense in some markets, but we have to be thoughtful about cannibalization of paid tiers,” Netflix 联合首席执行官格雷格·彼得斯（Greg Peters）在上个月的投资者电话会议上表示。
在用户对价格不断上涨感到不满的情况下，免费层级可以帮助 Disney+ 在 Netflix 和 HBO Max 等其他订阅制视频点播平台中脱颖而出。Netflix 也在谨慎考虑免费流媒体产品。Netflix 联合首席执行官格雷格·彼得斯（Greg Peters）在上个月的投资者电话会议上表示：“在某些市场，提供免费产品可能是有意义的，但我们必须谨慎考虑它对付费层级的蚕食。”
“We’ve got to ensure that we’ve got the right offering, the right differentiation of that offering. It’s probably also worth noting that having an effective scaled ads business in any candidate country for such an offering is clearly an important enabling factor to make those economics work. So that’s all to say that free is something that we’re going to continue to consider, but we have no near-term plans to launch something.”
“我们必须确保提供合适的产品，并实现正确的差异化。同样值得注意的是，在任何考虑推出此类产品的国家，拥有一个有效且规模化的广告业务显然是实现经济效益的重要前提。所以总而言之，免费是我们会持续考虑的方向，但我们近期并没有推出相关产品的计划。”
A history of price hikes
涨价史
Disney+ (131.6 million subscribers as of November) and Netflix (over 325 million subscribers as of January) are two of the largest streaming services by subscriber count. That large customer base has dealt with repeated price hikes over the years. Since 2024, Disney+ has raised its US prices twice. Its most recent price hike was in October, when ad plans increased by $2 per month and ad-free plans by $3 per month.
Disney+（截至 11 月拥有 1.316 亿订阅用户）和 Netflix（截至 1 月拥有超过 3.25 亿订阅用户）是按订阅用户数计算最大的两家流媒体服务商。多年来，庞大的用户群一直面临着反复的涨价。自 2024 年以来，Disney+ 已经在美国上调了两次价格。最近一次涨价是在 10 月，当时含广告套餐每月上涨 2 美元，无广告套餐每月上涨 3 美元。
During that time, Netflix also increased prices twice, with the most recent change seeing prices increase by $1 per month (ad plans) or $2 per month (ad-free plans) in March. Years of increasing prices have led to customer churn and frustration and growing interest in free streaming alternatives, including FAST (free ad support streaming television) services like The Roku Channel and Pluto TV.
在此期间，Netflix 也两次上调了价格，最近一次调整是在 3 月，价格每月上涨 1 美元（含广告套餐）或 2 美元（无广告套餐）。多年来的持续涨价导致了用户流失和不满，同时也增加了人们对免费流媒体替代方案的兴趣，包括像 The Roku Channel 和 Pluto TV 这样的 FAST（免费广告支持流媒体电视）服务。
Forty-six percent of US Internet households regularly use FAST services to watch long-form video content, according to a Q3 2025 survey of 8,009 US households by Parks Associates. In a Q4 2025 survey of 4,493 people who were 18 years old and older in the US and Canada, 54 percent of respondents said that they use ad-supported subscription tiers, while AVOD/FAST adoption rose to 70 percent, up five percentage points year over year.
根据 Parks Associates 对 8,009 个美国家庭进行的 2025 年第三季度调查，46% 的美国互联网家庭经常使用 FAST 服务观看长视频内容。在 2025 年第四季度对美国和加拿大 4,493 名 18 岁及以上人群的调查中，54% 的受访者表示他们使用含广告的订阅层级，而 AVOD/FAST 的采用率上升至 70%，同比增长了 5 个百分点。
For many, companies like Disney+ and Netflix have made subscription-based streaming too expensive. Ironically, those companies are considering pivoting to the type of free content that they helped drive demand for.
对许多人来说，Disney+ 和 Netflix 等公司已经让订阅制流媒体变得过于昂贵。讽刺的是，这些公司现在正考虑转向他们当初亲手推动了市场需求的免费内容模式。