How do you get more eyeballs on a streaming service? You make it free, obviously, while also raking in thousands of dollars from advertisers. The streamer still charges customers for the privilege of no advertisements, of course. That seems to be the new play from Disney+, according to a report from Business Insider.
“Hollywood giants Disney and Paramount Skydance are exploring adding free tiers to their subscription services…” reads the report. “And Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in mid-July that ‘a free offering could make sense in some markets.'”
We’re on board
Hopefully, South Africa would be one of those markets. Paramount’s own streamer, Paramount+, currently isn’t available on local soil, so we can put that out of our minds for the moment. But a Disney+ that offered content in exchange for ad views isn’t the worst idea, especially in a country without all that much disposable income.
Apple TV and Paramount+ both offer potential customers a taste of their content — only offering an episode or two of a specific show before charging for access. Disney+ would reportedly flesh out the idea in a bid to entice curious customers to become full-time subscribers once the ads become too much to bear.
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What this would look like, exactly, is still unclear. Disney runs the risk of making a free, ad-supported tier too good of a deal, potentially losing out on paying customers. The opposite is also true. Should Disney not offer enough content, or throw in too many ads, once-curious viewers may turn their attention elsewhere.
There’s no telling if, or even when, the plans may see the light of day. But it seems inevitable that Disney will at least explore the ad-supported streaming route in select markets outside the US. One of those may well be South Africa, especially now that the country is getting hold of a more robust version of the app in September.
