The future of Hulu is still very much in doubt, but now Disney has brought Hulu to India inside the Disney+ service.
First spotted by WhatsonDisneyPlus.com, Hulu has now shown up inside the Disney+ app in India as a hub of content for subscribers.
The Hulu hub offers a wide selection of shows and films from Disney’s studios, including ABC, FX, and 20th Century Studios, including The Kardashians, Single Drunk Female, Dave, Koala Man, Tiny Beautiful Things, How I Met Your Father, and many more.
This news comes as Disney recently announced plans to merge the Hulu and Disney+ apps. Last month Bob Iger CEO of Disney announced plans to merge the Hulu and Disney+ apps into a single app. Each platform will remain its own service but will be combined into a single app.
“While we continue to offer Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression. of our DTC offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers, while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” CEO Bob Iger said on the earnings call.
ESPN+ has long been included in Hulu bundles, with all three options included in one of Hulu’s bundles since 2020. Iger is striving to increase revenue by seizing a unique advertising opportunity through the development of a single app hosting all three services.
Disney has approximately 5,000 advertisers, and this app could help aim their ads to land on the right audience’s ears. Advertisements will be more personalized to targeted audiences rather than traditional advertising tactics.
“What we’re doing right now — because we own two-thirds of Hulu, and we have an agreement with Comcast that may result in us owning 100 percent — is we’re really studying the business very, very carefully, all those competitive dynamics with an understanding that we have a good platform in Hulu,” Iger said at the investors’ conference.
To buy out Comcast’s remaining ownership of Hulu, Disney will need to pay the cable company a minimum of $9 billion. The exact number and details will be decided in 2024 by an arbitrator who will oversee the process and consider the companies’ previous contracts when making their decisions.
The apps will be merged into one by the end of 2023 and prices are expected to be increasing as well. It is possible that this is the start of the two apps merging.