The Hulu/Disney+ mash-up that Disney CEO Bob Iger promised in May is finally here. Starting around noon today, December 6, Disney+ will begin rolling out a new functionality on the platform that will allow subscribers who also pay for Hulu to stream “extensive Hulu content†from within the Disney app rather than switching over to the separate Hulu app. The so-called “one-app experience†should be live by the end of the day Wednesday and will be added automatically to all Disney+ accounts that are linked by email to Hulu accounts, whether that’s through one of the Disney bundles or via separate subscriptions.
While Hulu hits such as Only Murders in the Building and FX’s Fargo will now be easily streamable on Disney+, there will be some significant asterisks attached to what Disney is calling Hulu on Disney+, which is why Disney execs have been very careful to describe this new feature as a beta test and also keep the Hulu branding on Disney+ relatively low-key before a more polished final experience launches in March. For one thing, anyone who currently does not have a subscription to Hulu will not see any Hulu branding at all; their D+ app will look exactly the same for now.
Disney customers who do pay for Hulu will only see the platform’s branding and programs in four places on Disney+: a single “Hulu on Disney+†graphic included in the rotating carousel at the top of the D+ home page; as a single tile in the same row of brands that have long pointed to Marvel and Star Wars hubs; in content searches; and, once users start watching Hulu shows on D+, as individual show tiles in the “Continue Watching†row. That means that, at least for now, you won’t see an image from The Bear next to one for Loki in the “Recommended for You†row on D+. That’s in part designed to ease customers — especially ones with kids — into the idea of more mature Hulu programming now living on the platform. (Disney is also launching a major campaign to make sure parents understand how to update their D+ profiles and content controls accordingly.)
Perhaps the biggest caveat to today’s debut is that viewing between the Hulu and Disney+ apps won’t yet be seamless. For example, if you’ve been binging American Horror Story or The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, those shows will not pop up in your “Continue Watching†row on Disney+. In fact, your D+ app won’t be speaking to your Hulu app at all, at least not right away. Because Hulu and D+ are built on two very different tech bases, D+ will initially only know that you’re a Hulu subscriber, but not what shows you’ve watched or are currently watching. So if you watched two episodes of Only Murders in the Building season three on the Hulu app Tuesday night, and then click on the Only Murders tile on D+, the D+ app will assume this is the first time you’ve watched the show and start you on episode one. The same lack of cross-communication is expected to continue for at least a few months, though Disney engineers are working on interoperability. Disney insiders can’t yet say, however, whether the issue will be fixed by March, instead only saying it will happen eventually. But because Hulu isn’t going away, power Hulu users who’ve got long lists of shows they’re juggling over on that app can simply keep viewing those shows in the Hulu app.
Indeed, one of the biggest things to keep in mind about today’s changes is that this is very much not a merger of Disney+ and Hulu: If you like your Hulu app, you can keep your Hulu app. When HBO Max launched a few years ago, people who’d been watching HBO via HBO GO or HBO Now no longer had that option; what is now called Max was their only streaming choice. In the case of Hulu on Disney+, stand-alone Hulu remains alive and well, and is likely to continue as is for at least a few years, and possibly indefinitely. That is particularly true for the 5 million or so Hulu with Live TV subscribers, who use Hulu to watch linear broadcast and cable networks. The live TV offering will not be making the jump to Disney+, either now or in March; it’s of course possible that might happen at some point, but the engineering lift to do that is so great, it’s not on any public road map Disney execs have talked about.
What will evolve come spring is that the integration of Hulu on-demand content will become more natural and seamless. As Disney+ subscribers watch more Hulu shows on Disney+, the D+ algorithm will start learning more about subscribers’ Hulu preferences so that when March comes around, you will see more Hulu titles start popping up in Disney+ content rows. What’s more, that’s also when Disney is expected to make the Hulu hub visible even to Disney+ customers who do not pay for Hulu. This will allow the company to gently upsell those D+ customers, reminding them that for another $2 per month, they can unlock all the content in the Hulu hub.
More to note:
➽ While Disney is promising that a “significant majority†of shows and movies in Hulu’s SVOD library will be available on Disney+, some rights issues will keep certain titles out of Hulu on Disney+. Among the more notable ones: Modern Family and Love Island.
➽ Most ABC and FX shows that stream next-day on Hulu will also pop up in Hulu on D+, though, again, licensing issues could keep some missing in action. It’s likely Disney lawyers will continue working on deals to make sure the content libraries match as much as possible, much the way it took them some time to get everything from the now-defunct FX app over to FX on Hulu a few years ago.
➽ ESPN+ content isn’t part of today’s rollout, though it seems inevitable that at some point, Disney will look to integrate sports content from ESPN into D+ as well.
➽ You shouldn’t have to do anything to get access to Hulu on Disney+, according to a source familiar with the rollout, as long as you are either a Disney bundle subscriber (Disney Duo or Disney Trio) or use the same email account for separate subscriptions. If you set up Hulu with your email address but used your partner or roomie’s email to sign up for Disney+, however, you will need to go to the account settings for one of your subscriptions and change the email address so it matches the email used for the other. (Of course, at this point, you might consider changing to a bundle deal, since you will very likely save some cash this way.)