Hulu App to Be Phased Out; ‘Absolutely Integrating’ Into Disney+
Say ciao to the stand-alone Hulu streaming app: Disney mentioned it’s “absolutely integrating” the Hulu service, which it now owns 100%, into its flagship Disney+ streamer.
A brand new “unified” Disney+ and Hulu streaming app might be accessible in 2026, the corporate mentioned. Based on a Disney rep, prospects will nonetheless be capable of purchase a stand-alone Hulu subscription (in addition to a stand-alone Disney+ plan).
“Immediately we’re asserting a serious step ahead in strengthening our streaming providing by absolutely integrating Hulu into Disney+,” CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston mentioned in ready commentary on the media big’s quarterly earnings. “This may create a formidable package deal of leisure, pairing the highest-caliber manufacturers and franchises, nice common leisure, household programming, information and industry-leading dwell sports activities content material in a single app.”
The only Disney+ app with Hulu will ship an “improved shopper expertise,” which is able to decrease churn, Iger mentioned on the earnings name. Each companies might be “on one tech platform,” which is able to end in value synergies, based on Iger. As well as, Disney — which already sells advertisements for Disney+ and Hulu collectively — sees new alternatives for bundling advert gross sales by absolutely combining them, he mentioned.
Of their ready remarks, the Disney execs mentioned, “By creating a really differentiated streaming providing, we might be offering subscribers large selection, comfort, high quality, and enhanced personalization. This may improve our skill to proceed to develop profitability and margins in our leisure streaming enterprise by means of anticipated larger engagement, decrease churn, and promoting income potential, in addition to operational efficiencies that over time might end in financial savings that we will reinvest again into the enterprise.”
As well as, Hulu will turn into a worldwide common leisure model: Beginning within the fall of 2025, it would substitute the Star tile on Disney+ internationally.
“Work is already underway to proceed enhancing our expertise, and over the approaching months, we might be implementing quite a few enhancements inside the Disney+ app, together with thrilling new options and a extra customized homepage,” Iger and Johnston mentioned.
In the meantime, Hulu’s dwell TV enterprise might be mixed Fubo, underneath a proposed three way partnership majority-owned by Disney. The Hulu + Stay TV and Fubo manufacturers will stay individually bought and marketed. A Disney rep confirmed that Hulu + Stay TV will finally be built-in into Disney+ someday in 2026.
The transfer to completely sew Hulu along with Disney+ comes after Disney — following two years of negotiating — closed its cope with Comcast to purchase out NBCUniversal‘s one-third stake in Hulu in June 2025. Disney paid Comcast in complete about $9 billion, together with $8.61 billion in November 2023 and $438.7 million this previous June. Comcast had been in search of greater than $13 billion for the 33% Hulu stake; the ultimate price ticket was decided by means of arbitration by a third-party banker.
Disney has already taken steps to combine Hulu and Disney+. Within the spring of 2024, the Disney+ app launched “full” integration of Hulu content material, which the corporate has used as a strategy to convert stand-alone Disney+ prospects into bundled Disney+/Hulu subs.
Additionally Wednesday, Disney introduced that it’s going to now not report streaming subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, following the lead of Netflix and others.
As well as, the corporate set Aug. 21 because the launch date for its ESPN stand-alone streaming product, priced at $29.99/month.
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