Disney announced Wednesday that users in the United States will get a new app that mixes Disney+ and Hulu content. The business also revealed that the pricing of the Disney+ ad-free tier will be raised later this year.
During the company’s quarterly results call, CEO Bob Iger said that the new streaming service will be available by the end of 2023. However, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will continue to exist as separate platforms.
The offering will initially be offered to Disney Bundle subscribers (Disney+ and Hulu). Instead of switching between services, consumers would have a “one app experience,” according to Iger during the call.
“On the integrated app experience that we announced today, that’s for consumers that have subscribed to both services for now,” he said. “So in other words, it’s taking what we call the ‘dual bundle’ and putting it together in one experience, which is obviously good for consumers … It’s a bigger platform, basically more content than it offered before.”
The announcement follows the loss of 4 million Disney+ customers in the second quarter of 2023 and Hulu has added 200,000 subscribers.
“While we continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger added.
Many of us anticipated this announcement since former Disney CEO Bob Chapek hinted at it in September 2022.
“Right now, if you want to go from Hulu to ESPN+ to Disney+, you have to go out of one app to another app. In the future, we may have less friction,” Chapek told Variety in an interview last year.
This looks to back up allegations that Disney intends to buy Comcast’s interest in Hulu by 2024. Comcast currently controls 33% of the company, while Disney owns 66%.
Iger stated on the call that exploratory conversations with Comcast had begun, but a decision on whether Comcast will sell the interest to Disney remains uncertain.
Other competitors have made similar steps, such as Paramount+ partnering with Showtime and Warner Bros. Discovery announced its own streaming service, Max, which combines HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform.
A bulk of Hulu content is already packaged with Disney+ for subscribers in various locations outside of the United States.
“Outside the United States, we created that with Star, which doesn’t have all the programming of Hulu, but it has a significant amount, and it’s working quite well,” added Iger.
When the streamer announced its ad-supported plan in December, the premium tier priced $10.99/month, up from $7.99. Disney+’s ad-free subscription fee will be raised yet again. Subscribers will soon have to pay even more to access content free of advertisements.
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