In a major move from Disney, the company announced on Wednesday that US customers will get a new app that combines Disney+ and Hulu content.
The company also announced that it will increase the price of the Disney+ ad-free tier later this year.
During Disney’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Bob Iger revealed that the new streaming option will launch later this year. However, the company also plans to keep Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ as standalone platforms.
The news comes after Disney+ lost four million subscribers in the second quarter of 2023. Hulu gained 200,000 subscribers.
“This is a logical continuation of our (direct-to-consumer) offering that gives advertisers more opportunities 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 said during the earnings call.
Many of us saw the announcement coming since former Disney CEO Chapek hinted at the September 2022 plans.
“Currently, if you want to go from Hulu to ESPN+ to Disney+, you have to move from one app to another. In the future, we may have less friction,” Chapek said Variety last year.
This also seems to support reports that Disney is likely to buy Comcast’s share of Hulu. Reportedly, Disney will buy Comcast’s stake in Hulu by 2023 or 2024. Currently Comcast owns 33% and Disney 66%.
The integration follows other moves by competitors, such as the combination of Paramount+ with Showtime and Warner Bros. Discovery announcing its new Max streaming service, which merges HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single platform.
However, Disney + will also receive a price increase for its ad-free subscription. When the streamer launched its ad-supported plan in December, the cost of its premium tier rose to $10.99/month from $7.99. Soon subscribers will have to pay even more to get ad-free content.
“The price changes we have already made have 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,” Iger added. “Looking to the future, we will continue to optimize our pricing model to reward loyalty and reduce churn to increase subscriber revenue for the premium add-free tier and drive subscriber growth…”
