Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery offers Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single bundle on ad-supported or ad-free plans
Two big competitors, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery come together to present a bundle mirroring the traditional cable TV package of their streaming services. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery offers Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single bundle on ad-supported or ad-free plans to the US customers beginning this summer. The subscribers will have choices between ad-supported and ad-free plans and access to all three platforms at one place. The pricing has not been disclosed but are expected to present a discount of the services if subscribed to individually.
The integration began five years ago and the move results in the first, cross-company partnership for any of the top-tier services to come even close to Netflix in the race.
With Netflix and Amazon Prime Video dominating the market, this move is a strategic response to the growing competition in the streaming landscape. Disney will collect subscription fees, acting as a distributor and pay Warner Bros. Discovery, a percentage out of it.
Disney and Warner Bros. billed a joint bundle offering a ‘One of its kind’ that is intended to help increase viewer engagement and reduce churn on Disney+ which has 117.6 million subscribers. Churn, the industry term for the number of cancelled subscriptions in a given period, has been a nagging problem for the media companies.
Meanwhile, Hulu has 45.8 million subscribers, Warner bros. Discovery has 97.7 million subscribers across its streaming platforms, including Max, HBO Max and Discovery+, as well as its premium pay TV services such as HBO.
Since 2019, Disney has had majority control over Hulu and it aims to gradually shift the service into its main Disney+ service. Disney+ is well known for its family-friendly content, including Marvel films, Star wars and many animated films from Walt Disney+ and Pixar. On the other hand, Warner Bros streams adult oriented HBO brand with mature content such as The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and other categories like Discovery documentaries and the CNN new channel.
Disney, Warner Bros. and Fox Corp are introducing a new sports centric streaming service later this year. It will include games from all three companies.
Their customers did not see the point of paying for a large bundle with dozens of channels. But again, when the number of OTT platforms increased, consumers found it exhausting and complained about having to sign up for multiple subscriptions. Therefore, Disney and Warner Bros will make it easier to access and simplify the payments with one bill.
Disney’s main streaming business lost more than $11 billion since it was launched in 2019. It aggressively cut costs and raised prices for consumers and the company announced their first ever quarterly profits for the first three months of 2024, this week.
“On the heels of the very successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will offer subscribers even more choice and value,” said Joe Earley, president of direct to consumer for Disney Entertainment. “This incredible new partnership puts subscribers first, giving them access to blockbuster films, originals, and three massive libraries featuring the very best brands and entertainment in streaming today.”
This amalgamation of Max, Disney+ and Hulu will provide streaming subscribers access to a wide range of content from the cable TV bundle. One subscription will include many cable networks like TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Disney Channel and lots more. Along with broadcast networks like ABC and Fox as Fox does not have its own streaming subscription service and licenses all of its content on Hulu.