Discovery+ wants to make a Max subscriber out of you.
Starting today, January 7, 2025, the price of Discovery+ in the U.S. will increase by $1 on both the ad-supported and ad-free monthly plans. Discovery+ with ads will now run you $5.99 per month; without ads is $9.99/month.
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The price increase goes into effect immediately for new subscriptions, whereas existing subscribers are getting a 30-day heads up. The price increase for existing subs will kick in with their next billing cycle on or after Friday, February 7, 2025.
Discovery+ is the streaming home to the Discovery suite of cable channels. There’s Food Network, ID, HGTV, Discovery Channel, TLC, and more. Last night, Discovery+ (and ID) debuted the first two episodes of “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter.” The final two episodes premiere tonight, Tuesday, January 7 on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, and Max.
The last time Discovery+ raised its rates in the U.S. was in October 2023 — and that one was only on the ad-free tier. It was the first time Discovery+ increased prices since launching in 2021.
There are two reasons for Warner Bros. Discovery to increase the subscription price for a service like Discovery+. The first is the obvious one: more subscription revenue (so long as cancellations due to the price increase do not outpace the monetary value of the price increase). The second is to push subscribers to its broader Max product, which houses most Discovery+ series in addition to its core HBO and Warner Bros. content (and more).
At present, a Max subscription runs $9.99 with ads, $16.99 without, or $20.99 for what WBD calls “Ultimate Ad Free” Max. Ultimate Ad Free allows for simultaneous usage on four devices (vs. two), 4K UHD, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR 10 on select titles (vs. 1080P), and 100 downloads for on-the-go-viewing. Ad-supported Max users cannot download titles at all; the middle tier (basic ad-free) allows for up to 30 downloads.
Though Discovery+ has some highly-watched reality content, in some ways it is a surprise that it still exists. Today’s news may be an indication of the end. Max is the far-better value with a far-better library — even David Zaslav, the CEO of WBD who came from Discovery, calls the Warner Bros. film archives his “crown jewel.”
As of May 2023, Max had more Discovery+ shows than HBO shows, but it is the prestige of the HBO brand that lures most Warner Bros. Discovery DTC subscribers.
As of September 30, 2024 (our latest update), Warner Bros. Discovery in total had 110.5 million direct-to-consumer subscribers. That number includes linear HBO, Max, and Discovery+.
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