In 2019, Disney bought a controlling share of Hulu. Over the last six years, they’ve been steadily integrating Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN subscriptions. This past June, Disney paid NBCUniversal almost $439 million to finally buy them out and gain full control of the streaming service. For the past two years, Disney has been really making a push to get users of all three services to use one login. As of right now, it’s not mandatory, but they make it increasingly more difficult for people like me who have two very separate Disney+ and Hulu accounts. (Disney is under Mr. Rosie’s email, Hulu uses mine.)
Now that they finally have full ownership, Disney is pushing ahead to completely absorb Hulu into the Disney brand. In an attempt to “unify” the brands, Disney has plans to “fully integrate” both services within the coming months. There’s going to be a single app that combines both services. People that subscribe to Hulu’s live TV will go over to Disney’s new joint venture, Fubo.
Say ciao to the stand-alone Hulu streaming app: Disney said it is “fully integrating” the Hulu service, which it now owns 100%, into its flagship Disney+ streamer.
A new “unified” Disney+ and Hulu streaming app will be available in 2026, the company said. According to a Disney rep, customers will still be able to buy a stand-alone Hulu subscription (as well as a stand-alone Disney+ plan).
“Today we are announcing a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+,” CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston said in prepared commentary on the media giant’s quarterly earnings. “This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app.”
The single Disney+ app with Hulu will deliver an “improved consumer experience,” which will lower churn, Iger said on the earnings call. Both services will be “on one tech platform,” which will result in cost synergies, according to Iger. In addition, Disney — which already sells ads for Disney+ and Hulu together — sees new opportunities for bundling ad sales by fully combining them, he said.
In their prepared remarks, the Disney execs said, “By creating a truly differentiated streaming offering, we will be providing subscribers tremendous choice, convenience, quality, and enhanced personalization. This will enhance our ability to continue to grow profitability and margins in our entertainment streaming business through expected higher engagement, lower churn, and advertising revenue potential, as well as operational efficiencies that over time may result in savings that we can reinvest back into the business.”
In addition, Hulu will become a global general entertainment brand: Starting in the fall of 2025, it will replace the Star tile on Disney+ internationally.
“Work is already underway to continue enhancing our technology, and over the coming months, we will be implementing numerous improvements within the Disney+ app, including exciting new features and a more personalized homepage,” Iger and Johnston said.
Meanwhile, Hulu’s live TV subscribers will be migrated over to Fubo, under a proposed joint venture majority-owned by Disney.
The move to fully sew Hulu together with Disney+ comes after Disney — following two years of negotiating — closed its deal with Comcast to buy out NBCUniversal‘s one-third stake in Hulu in June 2025. Disney paid Comcast in total about $9 billion, including $8.61 billion in November 2023 and $438.7 million this past June. Comcast had been seeking more than $13 billion for the 33% Hulu stake; the final price tag was determined through arbitration by a third-party banker.
Disney has already taken steps to integrate Hulu and Disney+. In the spring of 2024, the Disney+ app launched “full” integration of Hulu content, which the company has used as a way to convert stand-alone Disney+ customers into bundled Disney+/Hulu subs.
Also Wednesday, Disney announced that it will no longer report streaming subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, following the lead of Netflix and others. In addition, the company set Aug. 21 as the launch date for its ESPN stand-alone streaming product, priced at $29.99/month.
From a business POV, I get combining your popular platforms. That said, this whole thing just reeks of corporate America once again taking something from consumers and making it less affordable in the name of profits. Although they say that you can still buy stand-alone plans, we all know that this is most likely just a transitional approach to combining both – and eventually all three – brands together for an exorbitant amount of money. I say ‘eventually’ because the ESPN audience isn’t the same as the Disney+/Hulu audience, and a bunch of different platforms offer ESPN right now.
I have different Disney+ and Hulu accounts. I basically take advantage of Black Friday deals every year. I’ve signed up for Hulu (and Peacock) using a different email every year and am riding it out on that $1.99/month until they stop offering the promos. Then, I’ll just completely cut both off. We really only use Disney+ and Paramount+ on the regular. I got a sweetheart deal for Disney+ through Amex that I honestly thought would expire two years ago, but it’s still going, so I’m afraid to lose it. Streaming TV had such economic promise for consumers when it first started. Sadly, we’re approaching a breaking point where they’re simply pricing people out. Something is going to give, and soon.
