Disney will start testing a combined Disney Plus and Hulu app next month

[Karlston]

The combined app will launch in December in beta for people who subscribe to the Disney Plus and Hulu bundle.

 

Disney’s combined Disney Plus and Hulu streaming app is on the way. As part of its fourth quarter earnings results, Disney announced it’s going to launch the new app in beta for bundle subscribers in December, with the official launch coming in early spring 2024.

 

“We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically, making extensive general entertainment content available to bundle subscribers via Disney Plus,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. “We expect that Hulu and Disney Plus will result in increased engagement, greater advertising opportunities, lower churn, and reduce customer acquisition costs.”

 

We last heard about the “one-app experience” in May. The combined app is meant to put content from both Disney Plus and Hulu in one place, which some countries outside the US already have.

 

Even as Disney implemented price hikes across its streaming services in October, Disney Plus surpassed 150 million global subscribers this quarter, with streaming losses shrinking to $387 million. Disney still hasn’t forgotten about its planned password-sharing crackdown, either. It’s still not clear when it will happen, but Iger noted that its “planned rollout” won’t have a “meaningful impact” on its streaming business until 2025.

 

The earnings mark just about one year since Iger took over for Bob Chapek as CEO, but Iger mentioned during an earnings call on Wednesday that he still has some cleaning up to do. “As I reflect on our achievement this past year, I’m mindful of the fact that a lot of time and effort was spent on fixing... certain decisions made in the recent past and addressing the numerous challenges brought on by disruption and the pandemic,” Iger said.

 

Disney has had a lot going on over the past few months. Earlier this month, Disney announced that it’s going to buy Comcast’s 33 percent stake in Hulu for more than $8 billion, giving Disney full ownership of the streamer. It also cut a deal with Charter, allowing the cable company to bundle Disney Plus subscriptions with its Spectrum TV packages, while also paving the way for similar agreements.

 

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