Disney plans to merge Disney+ and Hulu as the streaming wars enter the superapp era
The 800-pound streaming gorilla… isn’t done bulking up. Disney yesterday announced plans to marry Disney+ and Hulu into a single mega-streamer sometime this year (our suggested couple name: Huney). The goal: create a “one app experience” so that US bundle subscribers won’t have to toggle between the two. FYI: Disney owns two-thirds of Hulu, and reportedly wants to buy the rest from Comcast.
Losing subs: Disney shares fell 9% yesterday after the company’s first-quarter earnings, which featured a surprise loss of 4M Disney+ subscribers.
Bleeding cash: While theme parks are going strong, Disney’s streaming biz lost $659M last quarter. CEO Bob Iger said another price hike is coming for Disney+’s ad-free tier.
Sum of its parts: Disney said it will also still offer Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ as standalone platforms. Combined, they have 231M subs (versus Netflix's 232M).
One app to rule them all… By bundling its content into one superapp, Disney may hope to boost growth and alleviate streaming fatigue. It’s not alone in its content coagulation push: industry players are combining forces in hopes of standing atop the rubble of the streaming wars. Earlier this year, Paramount+ pulled in Showtime content (new rolls-off-the-tongue name: Paramount+ with Showtime), and last month the world was introduced to Max — the result of a marriage between HBO Max and Discovery+.
Consolidation could cure #subscripturation… Subscription saturation is real: Americans spend nearly $50/month on video streamers, and are increasingly looking to cut back. Disney’s push to jam diverse content into one offering could be a possible solution. Or, as streamers continue combining (picture: snowballs rolling down a hill), it may inadvertently recreate the cable chaos that subscribers fled in the first place.