Disney+, Hulu Integration Set to Begin in December

Peter Griffin and the staff of The Original Beef of Chicagoland are heading to Disney+.

During Disney’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday, CEO Bob Iger said that the company would begin integrating its Hulu streaming platform onto the larger Disney+ in December for users who have a Disney Bundle subscription. The news comes on the heels of Disney acquiring full control of Hulu after buying out Comcast’s stake in the streamer a week ago.

“We’re on track to roll out a one-app experience on Disney+” by March 2024, Iger said on the company’s earnings call and on a CNBC appearance before the company’s quarterly earnings were released. That will mean Hulu originals like The Bear and Only Murders in the Building, as well as ABC’s Abbott Elementary and library series like Family Guy and 911 (which is also moving to ABC after six seasons on Fox) will be available as part of a “Hulu on Disney+” option.

“We are bullish about the future of our streaming business,” Iger said. “Imagine the opportunities a combined Disney+, Hulu and ESPN streaming experience can offer us as a company and consumers.”

Iger said he has seen some demos of the integrated Disney+ and Hulu and “I feel really good” about how it looks. The beta rollout for bundle subscribers is aimed at letting parents set up controls around the more adult-oriented Hulu programming that will be available on Disney+, leading up to a full launch at the end of March. “We have opportunities with upsell capabilities and increasing engagement” with the one-app experience, Iger said, noting that bundling streaming products has reduced churn in the past.

Iger also sounded more bullish on Disney’s linear TV business than he did in the company’s previous earnings call in August. In terms of the advertising business, “We’re finding linear is a little stronger than we expected it to be,” he said. “It’s not back as much as we’d like, it’s still challenged, but it’s not as bad as it had been.”

That contrasts with months ago, when Iger said Disney was exploring “a variety of strategic options” for its linear networks (not including ESPN). While the company’s broadcast and cable business is still profitable, those profits have declined in step with the dropoff of TV households subscribing to cable and satellite bundles.

In Disney’s fiscal fourth quarter, revenue for its linear networks fell 9 percent versus the same quarter a year ago, due largely to a dip in ad sales. Profits were virtually unchanged year-to-year, however, thanks to income from equity investees like A+E Networks (which Disney jointly owns with Hearst) and lower production and programming costs during the writers and actors strikes.