Disney’s free streaming ‘perks’ are just insulting

Disney is in a bind. The company is struggling to keep its streaming subscriber numbers up after years of price hikes, but it also wants to spend less money producing new content that might draw more people in.

The solution? Perks!

Disney is making a big to-do about its new “always-on” perks programs for both Disney+ and Hulu. In a press release, the company boasted of “rewards ranging from one-of-a-kind experiences and limited-time sweepstakes to everyday savings and special discounts.”

But despite the grand proclamations, the perks program is pretty much an empty gesture, full of sweepstakes you’ll never win and cross-promos that ultimately lead to the customer spending more money. If Disney really wants to reward subscriber loyalty and incentivize year-round subscriptions, it needs to try a little harder.

Oops! All upsells

Part of what Disney is offering is just a set of free trials to other services. Those include six months of DoorDash’s DashPass, three months of Clear+, and two months of Super Duolingo.

Not all of these offers are new or unique. I spent two minutes searching the web and found a promo code for the same three months of Clear+ (MDGP25EN2CC8C6, if you’re wondering), with no Disney+ subscription necessary. DoorDash regularly hands out its own extended trials (including the same six-month offer with Roku last year), and you can’t redeem a new trial from Disney if you’ve ever enrolled in DashPass before..

All of these trials also require payment info up front and the services will auto-bill you at the end. If you don’t cancel the trials before they’re over (or sign up with a limited-use payment card), you’ll eventually be paying full price just like everyone else.

Disney’s shopping discounts aren’t much better. There’s a 15-percent discount on Funko and Loungefly store items—barely more than the WELCOME10 code that works for anyone—and a 20-percent Adidas store discount that’s only available with an Adiclub membership, which requires handing over a bunch of personal info. (Amusingly, Disney-branded items are also on Adidas’ long list of discount exclusions.)

Once you get past all the cross-selling, you’re basically left with a handful of digital items in games like Disney Emoji Blitz and access to a few Disney-related sweepstakes (which you can also just enter by mail without a subscription). With the fine print noting that “millions of internet users” could participate, your odds of winning a Disney cruise or Comic-Con tickets are pretty slim.

Perhaps Hulu’s promise of “exclusive” perks “inspired by” shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Only Murders in the Building will fare better, but Disney hasn’t explained what those are going to be. For now, the perks program serves little purpose beyond getting you to spend more money on unrelated products and services.

Jared Newman / Foundry

What real loyalty rewards could look like

In theory, it makes sense for Disney to offer streaming subscribers a little extra for their loyalty, especially during the slow summer months when new content isn’t flowing. But those perks should be more relevant for Disney fans or at least have some real lasting value.

Instead of just offering the same kind of extended trials you can get anywhere, for instance, how about offering ongoing discounts that accrue for longtime subscribers? Instead of a few meaningless mobile game trinkets, how about giving Disney fans some actual games, with redemption codes for titles from the vast Star Wars and Disney back catalogs?

Perhaps Disney could throw in some theme park perks as well. A free churro or two would be a far nicer gesture to longtime Disney+ subscribers than a modest discount on a DoorDash-delivered burrito.

Better yet, Disney could offer discounts on Disney+ and Hulu themselves. That’s what DirecTV does with its own perks program, which rewards customers with tokens that accrue over time. Customers say they’ve been able to redeem these tokens for monthly bill credits and movie rentals, among other things.

Disney might not feel like it needs to try all that hard while its profits are up, but subscriber numbers have been wobbly. While Disney+ added 1.4 million subscribers last quarter, that was aided by a deep four-month discount promotion that ran through most of March. Disney+ lost 700,000 subscribers at the end of last year, and the company projects only a “modest increase” next quarter, despite an ongoing crackdown on password sharing.

But in that case, let’s not pretend Disney’s new streaming perks program is anything but the bare minimum in terms of effort.

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