Disney+
Disney+ will soon add a feature to prevent you from canceling your subscription
The online content platform is considering adding a way to pause a subscription instead of canceling it in order to increase the retention rate of paying users.
The world of streaming platforms is an all-out war. Companies like Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Disney are battling each other for users’ attention in an increasingly fragmented market, making it harder to establish clear dominance over the competition. Aware of this, Disney+ is planning an alternative that focuses on retaining users who are already subscribed, trying to win the battle in the long run.
Pause instead of cancel feature coming soon to Disney+
Disney+ has not been exempt from criticism in recent months for some of the measures it has taken to increase its profits. Like other platforms such as Netflix, Max or Amazon’s Prime Video, this application has also adopted strategies such as increasing the price of its subscriptions, including advertising, or preventing account sharing. However, given the fierce competition in the sector, these plans would not be enough to achieve the desired results for one clear reason: the critical mass of users worldwide who are willing to pay for these services has already been reached.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney+ is rethinking its strategy to focus on existing subscribers. To that end, the company is working on a “pause” option instead of a “cancel” option, which would allow subscribers to temporarily pause their access to the service without losing the remaining days of their subscription that they have already paid for.
The reason is very simple: there is currently a huge amount of content available on different streaming platforms, and subscribers do not have the time to watch it all. While being a regular subscriber to one or more platforms is a convenient way to have access to huge catalogs of series, movies or documentaries, it is not efficient from an economic point of view, as it is virtually impossible to “get to everything” and therefore money is wasted. In recent years, general consumption trends are changing, and the average user now simply subscribes and unsubscribes to platforms when there is premiere content that really interests them and they have the time to watch it.
This changing trend is what led Disney+ to consider adding this new option, as well as scheduling its premieres so that series episodes arrive weekly, rather than releasing entire seasons on the same day as Netflix. In both cases, this is a move to increase user retention and keep them from unsubscribing or moving to another platform. The Wall Street Journal article only mentions that the Disney+ pause option will be coming “soon,” but does not give an exact date.
Disney+ is not the first streaming platform to offer this option; others such as Netflix, or Hulu also offer the possibility of pausing the subscription, although in the case of the former it is not available for the basic level and it is not allowed for all payment methods. In short, the implementation of a subscription pause method in Disney+ is another way for its managers to make it competitive with others such as Max, Prime Video or Netflix, regardless of the content offered. The digital content application space is an ever-changing market, and the major players must adapt if they want to remain relevant.