Disney is Nixing the Standalone Hulu App

[MacRumors]

Disney is eliminating the standalone Hulu app, reports Variety. Rather than separate Hulu and Disney+ apps, Disney plans to offer a unified streaming app that includes both services.

The new app will debut in 2026, and while it will include both Disney+ and Hulu, customers will still able to buy standalone subscriptions to each service.

"The company is taking major steps forward in streaming with the upcoming launch of ESPN's direct-to-consumer service, our just-announced plans with the NFL, and our forthcoming integration of Hulu into Disney+, creating a truly differentiated streaming proposition that harnesses the highest-caliber brands and franchises, general entertainment, family programming, news, and industry-leading sports content," Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the plan during the company's third quarter earnings call.

Iger claims the combined app will provide an "improved consumer experience" and new opportunities for advertising revenue.

Disney+ and Hulu have a combined 183 million paid subscriptions, up 2.6 million since last quarter.

Article Link: Disney is Nixing the Standalone Hulu App

 

[guyxye]

I haven’t used the Hulu app once after I subscribed to the Disney+ bundle. So for me, one less app on my devices, which is great.

 

[auslanderplates]

I watch zero sports. That’s a whole lot of money going into services I care nothing about, that will surely increase prices across the Disney smorgasbord.

 

[Johnny907]

Disney is out of its mind if it thinks the D+ brand is more valuable than Hulu.
Looks like I’ll be cancelling another streaming subscription shortly.

 

[progx]

Not surprised. Truthfully, it’s crazy they’ve been maintaining both for this long. I hope the new unified app will take the best of both, but I think a new name would be better.

 

[kmm333]

I guess it'll have to include Hulu + Live TV too, right? Sounds like it'll be a mess of an app.

 

[EugW]

Disney is out of its mind if it thinks the D+ brand is more valuable than Hulu.
Looks like I’ll be cancelling another streaming subscription shortly.

Hulu is almost completely non-existent outside the US, whereas Disney Plus is all over the world.

In Canada, here we get Star+, which overlaps with Hulu for content, and it's part of Disney Plus. eg. I watched the movie Prey on Star+, in the Disney Plus app with my Disney Plus subscription.

 

[HMI]

Ok. Then I’m nixing any app with the word Disney on it.

And I feel better already.

 

[GrassShark]

Disney is out of its mind if it thinks the D+ brand is more valuable than Hulu.
Looks like I’ll be cancelling another streaming subscription shortly.

It is though. Hulu may be bigger in the States, but it doesn't exist anywhere else. Disney+ is globally recognised.

 

[frownface]

More surprised they didn't do it sooner to be honest.

Down here in aus, we never had hulu, we have star, and it's just built into disney+; and we pay for it too as part of d+ with no option to downgrade to just disney stuff.

Which'll be exactly why they're unifying it elsewhere, because then instead of giving people the option to subscribe to 2 services, they subscribe to 1 unified service at the price of 2 services, whether or not they want both services.

 

[Kar98]

Iger claims the combined app will provide an "improved consumer experience" and new opportunities for advertising revenue.

One I believe, and one I don’t. Guess which.

 

[leicaman]

Iger is not a good CEO. Disney seems to have a hard time finding someone who would be good to run the country.

 

[fireguy286]

That's a lot of words to say we're increasing prices in a hurry.

 

[verdi1987]

I haven’t used the Hulu app once after I subscribed to the Disney+ bundle. So for me, one less app on my devices, which is great.

I prefer the Hulu UI. The Hulu watchlist separates movies and TV shows and does not have an item limit like the Disney+ app does.

 

[macintologist]

How much of this subscription growth is from Hulu being offered as a free add on to various cell phone and grocery plans?

 

[Complex757]

I figured this was going to happen once they started putting non-Disney stuff on the Disney side, even rated R movies.

The Disney app on my TV seems slower than the Hulu one and I can't see it improving with it growing.

 

[EugW]

I’m curious though. On Hulu, what are the English subtitles for foreign content? On Star+ here in Canada, when I watch Korean and Japanese shows, they have no regular English subtitles. They’re only closed captioned English, which is very irritating for those of us who are not hearing impaired. I don’t need my subtitles to tell me that dramatic music is playing or there was an explosion.

On Netflix, we get both an English subtitles option and a closed captioned English option. Hence, I watch a lot more foreign language content on Netflix than I do on Star+/Disney Plus.

 

[ELman]

I guess it'll have to include Hulu + Live TV too, right? Sounds like it'll be a mess of an app.

Disney is buying Fubo so my guess is the live TV portion of Hulu will end up on Fubo.

 

[Deepriver93]

If Disney owns 70% of Fubo???? does Hulu asorb Fubo?

 

[ThisIsMike]

Wake me up when they also nix Disney Plus. lol never has an entire industry so shot themselves in the butt as when all these studios started putting their content online 30-45 days after release.

 

[ignatius345]

I prefer the Hulu UI. The Hulu watchlist separates movies and TV shows and does not have an item limit like the Disney+ app does.

Hulu also uses the native Apple TV player which is a lot better. I'd bet money this new app will use some totally borked custom video player that doesn't access the features of the native player.

 

[Gengar]

As they should. Hulu's app has always been terrible. Disney+ has its faults as well (namely the Continue Watching row not clearing), but Hulu's is a mess between scrolling through menus, ads blaring loudly and the resolution dropping during streaming.

 

[maruyama]

This is like HBO Max Max HBO Max all over again

 

[SeaFox]

I’m curious though. On Hulu, what are the English subtitles for foreign content? On Star+ here in Canada, when I watch Korean and Japanese shows, they have no regular English subtitles. They’re only closed captioned English, which is very irritating for those of us who are not hearing impaired. I don’t need my subtitles to tell me that dramatic music is playing or there was an explosion.

Hulu content has "normal" full subtitles for foreign language content (no sound cues). If a title is available in dual audio languages the program gets separate listings for the episodes (they all appear on the same show page, but if you start watching one language the app will follow the playback trail for that version, essentially playing every other file in the show's listings to keep the audio/subs consistent). Contrast this to Netflix with its true multi-audio setup, where you can switch language playback mode mid-program if you want.

I can tell you from experience while Hulu may carry a decent amount of anime it would be better to watch on Crunchyroll as Hulu only has bare-bones "caption" style subs at the bottom of the screen, much like Netflix, and does not support positioning of subs for on-screen text.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Are they going to separate the content of each platform within the app? Sounds strange with the article mentioning you will still be able to subscribe to each service individually.