Little more than a year in, the price of the ESPN direct-to-subscriber platform is inching up.
The price of an ESPN Unlimited subscription will increase to $32 per month starting September 17, according to a support page on the company’s website, an increase of $2 over the current $30/mo price. The price of an annual subscription will increase from $300 to $320. The price change was also mentioned in an on-screen message when loading the ESPN app Sunday.
The cheaper ESPN Select subscription, which is for all intents and purposes ESPN+, will also see a price increase of $1 per month — from $13 to $14. The annual fee will increase $10, from $130 to $140.
The price increases are the first since ESPN rolled out its direct-to-subscriber platform last year.
Last week, Sara Fischer of Axios reported that four in five subscribers to ESPN Unlimited receive the service as part of a bundle that includes Disney+ and Hulu. The price of that bundle is unchanged at $36/mo ($45/mo if one gets Disney+ and Hulu without ads), but the bundle that includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select is rising from $20 to $22 (and $30 to $33 including ad-free Disney+ and Hulu).
The ESPN support page did not mention any changes in pricing to the discounted bundles that pair ESPN Unlimited with outside platforms such as Fox One or NFL+ Premium.
It is no surprise that the price of ESPN Unlimited is already rising. Peacock earlier this week announced price increases for all three of its plans, with its standard “Premium” subscription rising from $11/mo to $13/mo. Pricing for the various streaming MVPDs has steadily risen over the years, with YouTube TV rising from $35/mo at launch in 2018 to more than $80/mo currently.
In a memo to staff obtained by Sports Media Watch last week, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro marked the anniversary of the ESPN D2C launch, saying that the company is in the “early innings” of its “direct-to-consumer journey.”
