The Walt Disney Company is moving forward with plans for a cheaper, ad-supported version of Disney Plus that, according to some reports, will show fewer ads than its other, grown-up streamer Hulu.
On Tuesday, trade publication Variety said executives at the Walt Disney Company are being choosy about the types of ads that will appear on Disney Plus because it is concerned that viewers who are overexposed to advertising will view the service as less family friendly.
Political advertising will not be allowed on Disney Plus, Variety reported, nor will advertisements for alcohol — which differs from Hulu, where reasonable ads of both flavors are considered okay.
Though Disney is hoping to use advertisements to subsidize the cost of its streamer — Disney Plus currently costs $8 a month or $80 a year without commercials — the service won’t display ads when it feels a young viewer might be watching.
As for the ads that do appear on the service, Disney is reportedly telling ad buyers that the service will limit commercial interruptions to a maximum of four minutes per hour of content streamed.
Disney Plus has around 130 million global subscribers as of March 2022, with one-third of those customers based in the United States or Canada. The service offers animated and live action films from Walt Disney Pictures as well as content from the Disney Channel, National Geographic, Pixar, Marvel Studios, the Star Wars franchise and 21st Century Fox.
