By now it should be no secret that Disney+ is launching in South Africa. 18 May is the date, according to the service and a wide range of roadside advertising, but the Mouse Company is feeling a little insecure.
This might be why Disney+ is asking South Africans to pre-register for the service. A little like Samsung asking buyers to pre-order their pre-orders, the service is letting users “…register their interest to subscribe to Disney+ in South Africa”.
Disney+ a discount
The point, obviously, is so the service can gauge local interest ahead of launch day. There’s probably some honcho somewhere who really needs that information right now. Server capacity might also hinge on the local response. But part of it is also probably to scoop up as many customers on the first day as possible. That always looks good to investors and on balance sheets.
Read More: How Disney+ stacks up to Showmax, Netflix, and the rest of South Africa’s streaming services
But you’re not supposed to be thinking about the capitalism angle. Just the discount you’re going to get. See, Disney+ is offering those who ‘register their interest’ an introductory annual price for the service.
Normally Disney’s service would cost R120 a month. Pay for a year upfront and you’ll pay just R1,190. Tell Disney that you’re interested before midnight on 17 May and you’ll pay just R950 for the first year of access.
The signup process is simple. Just head to the relevant page (which is right here), click ‘Register Now’, and fill in your details. On 18 May, you’ll be sent a specific link that’ll let you sign up for a deeper-than-expected discount. Or you can wait till 18 May and pay R1,190 — but Mickey is probably counting on you wanting to save a couple hundred bucks next month.
