Disney unveils first details on how its ad-supported plan will work

Disney has revealed more details about how its lower-priced, ad-supported Disney+ tier will work.

As previously reported by Variety and later confirmed by Disney to The Wall Street Journal, ads will run an average of four minutes or less per hour. For context, this is less often than the U.S.-only Peacock, HBO Max and Disney’s own Hulu services. What’s more, Disney won’t accept political or alcohol advertising, and it will run no ads during shows aimed at pre-school audiences.

Disney first confirmed that ads were coming to the platform in March, noting that they’d launch by the end of the year in the U.S. While Disney said it plans to expand that to “international markets” in 2023, the company has declined to comment on whether that includes Canada.

Specific pricing has also yet to be confirmed. That said, Disney+ costs $7.99 USD/month (about $10.25 CAD/month), so the ad-supported tier will be at least somewhat less than that. It should be noted, though, that Disney+ in Canada and the U.S. are quite different, so it’s likely not enough to look at the U.S. price and expect something the same. That’s because Disney+’s base cost in Canada is $11.99/month, higher than in the U.S., since it includes content from Hulu, FX and other Disney brands. In the U.S., such content is on separate services.

Ultimately, though, we’ll have to wait and see what Disney might have planned for ads in Canada. In the meantime, check out our round-up of Canadian-led Disney+ originals that are on the way, starting with this month’s Obi-Wan Kenobi.