Walt Disney Co. is exploring a free, ad-supported streaming offering to attract price-sensitive consumers and boost advertising revenue, CEO Josh D'Amaro said during the company's fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings call. D'Amaro stated that a free product could help drive top-of-funnel Disney+ subscriber growth and accelerate ad revenue, noting that unlike many AVOD competitors, Disney is fairly well-sold and more inventory would help. The comments came as Disney reported adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share, beating Wall Street's consensus estimate of $1.86, while revenue rose 7% year over year to $25.25 billion, slightly missing expectations of $25.40 billion. The entertainment division posted $11.35 billion in revenue, a 6% increase, supported by the strong theatrical performance of Toy Story 5 which crossed $1 billion at the global box office.
Walt Disney CompanyExploring free ad-supported tier to attract price-sensitive consumers and boost ad revenue, plus strong Toy Story 5 performance.
Netflix IncDisney's potential free tier could increase competition in streaming, but no direct impact on Netflix stated.
