Disney announces merger of Disney+ and Hulu into a single app

Disney plans to merge Disney+ and Hulu into a single app, with a beta test scheduled in December for The Disney Bundle subscribers. The announcement was made during Disney's Q4 2023 earnings call. The merger aims to create a user-friendly platform and is expected to lead to increased user engagement, broader advertising opportunities, lower customer churn, and decreased customer acquisition costs.

The integrated app is set to launch in Spring 2024 following the beta testing phase. This step comes after Disney's purchase of Comcast's remaining share in Hulu for $8.61 billion, which consolidated Disney's ownership of the streaming service.

The integration is part of Disney's broader strategy to create a unified streaming platform, leveraging the strengths of both Disney+ and Hulu and further strengthening its content offering. This is especially significant considering that recently the video streaming platform has begun testing its new account-sharing restriction policy, similar to what Netflix did in the middle of the year.