By Disney will launch a beta test of an app next month that combines Disney+ and Hulu into a single experience for subscribers of both services according to company CEO Bob Iger.
Speaking on the company’s earnings call for the September quarter, he says Disney still needs to close its deal with Comcast to buy out NBCUniversal’s 33% stake in Hulu. Disney is expected to pay at least $8.61 billion (though could go much higher).
As a result, a beta version of the Disney+ with Hulu app will launch in December for subscribers of the two-service bundle. This gives parents time to set up parental controls ahead of the official launch of the app in Spring 2024.
Iger says: “We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney+ [service]”.
The company expects Hulu on Disney+ to result in increased engagement, greater ad revenue, reduce customer-acquisition costs and lower churn.
Disney offers a price-discounted bundle of Disney+ and Hulu with ads for $9.99 per month and $19.99 per month without ads but currently customers use separate apps to stream each one.
It’s expected the app will resemble how Disney+ operates outside the United States where Hulu doesn’t operate. In overseas markets, the Disney+ has a fully integrated ‘Star’ section that handles Hulu & 20th Century Fox titles. It’s likely Disney+ will use that template, simply replacing ‘Star’ with the Hulu branding.
In fact, once the sale to Comcast is done, it’s theorised the Star branding may be replaced by Hulu in select international markets.
For the most recent quarter, core Disney+ subscriptions (excluding Disney+ Hotstar) increased by 6.9 million, to 112.6 million subscribers.
Source: Variety
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