Disney Plus has appeared to have quietly stopped offering new subscribers a free seven-day trial of the streaming service, as spotted by French pop culture site Numerama.
It the free trial offer seems to be no longer available in the United States — there’s no mention of it anymore on the streaming site, and attempting to sign up for a new account will simply direct users to begin payments immediately for the service.
“We continue to test and evaluate different marketing, offers, and promotions to grow Disney+. The service was set at an attractive price-to-value proposition that we believe delivers a compelling entertainment offering on its own,” said a Disney Plus spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.
It’s not clear when Disney removed the ability to try out Disney Plus for free, but the timing does sense, given that Disney is just weeks away from releasing what might be the single most anticipated title on the service yet: the recording of the Broadway production of Hamilton, set to debut on the service on July 3rd.
Without a free trial, anyone who wants to watch Hamilton when it’s out will have to pay for at least one month of Disney Plus (which costs $6.99, or $12.99 for the more prominently advertised bundle that also includes Hulu and ESPN Plus) — customers that Disney is presumably hoping will turn into long term subscriptions.
Disney Plus has amassed over 50 million subscribers worldwide since it launched last fall, helped in part by international rollouts in the UK, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, France, and Switzerland.
Update June 19th, 1:12pm: Added statement from Disney on the removal of the free trial.
