What you need to know
- Disney has announced a new "one app" experience for the Disney+ streaming service.
- Disney+ will soon incorporate Hulu content into the app, but both standalone apps will still exist.
- Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced a similar move in which it will merge Discovery+ content into the new "Max" service.
Disney announced its FY Q2 earnings this week, where the company made a surprise announcement about one of its streaming platforms. During the earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company will soon bring Hulu content into Disney+.
Iger stated that the company will "soon begin offering a one-app experience domestically that incorporates our Hulu content via Disney+." He says that the move will not only provide "greater opportunities for advertisers" but will also streamline its content offerings into a more unified experience so that bundle subscribers no longer have to switch back and forth between apps.
Disney will still offer the apps separately, but the move may help entice non-bundle subscribers.
The new "one-app experience" closely follows Warner Bros. Discovery's move to merge its two streaming services into one. The new Max streaming service launches later this month and will incorporate both HBO Max content and Discovery+ content.
Like HBO Max and Discovery+, Disney+ and Hulu generally serve two different audiences, so it will be interesting to see how the company handles the move.
As for the newly combined Disney+Hulu experience, an exact launch date wasn't given, but Iger said it would roll out by the end of 2023 and that Disney will share more details about its plan at a later date.
In addition to the new app experience, the company is additionally raising the price of its ad-free streaming plan later, which will increase from the current $10.99 per month. While Disney+ subscribers dropped globally by $4 million, the company is confident in its pricing.
Iger said during the call that "the pricing changes we’ve already implemented a proven successful, and we plan to set a higher price for our ad-free tier later this year to better reflect the value of our content offerings." The ad-supported Disney+ tier will remain the same.
