Disney+ to hike prices and merge with Hulu after losing 4million subscribers
Disney will be combining its Disney+ and Hulu platforms in a new app that is set to launch later this year.
Disney boss Bob Iger said that the company was going to create a "one-app experience" for its customers in the US which would create a "unified streaming experience".
However, the company also plans to keep Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone platforms as well.
The news of the merger comes as the streaming platform, which is also home to popular titles from Pixar and Marvel, lost four million subscribers in the first three months of 2023.
Most of the lost subscribers came from Disney+ Hotstar in India after it lost streaming rights to Premier League cricket matches.
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The number of Disney+ subscribers fell to nearly 158million from January to March this year.
Disney also lost 300,000 customers in the US and Canada, after raising subscription prices in December.
The number of Hulu subscribers sat at 48.2 million - the platform also gained 200,000 subscriptions in the first three months of this year.
The price for the ad-free Disney+ subscription will also be seeing a hike this year from the current $10.99 a month.
We still don’t know how much Disney will increase the price of its ad-free plan or if this pricing will change once Disney+ and Hulu become available as a single app.
Disney raised the of both Hula and Disney+ last year and it also introduced the $7.99 add-supported tier.
This ad-supported tier is expected to be launched in Europe later this year - the price for this tier is Europe is still not confirmed.
In a conference call on Wednesday Big Iger told Disney employees: "As we look to the future, we will continue optimizing our pricing model to reward loyalty and reduce churn to increase subscriber revenue for the premium ad-free tier and drive growth of subscribers."
In the UK, the price of Disney+ is currently £7.99 a month - alternatively, you can pay for a year upfront for £79.90.
The number of households in the UK subscribing to Disney+ has increased over the last few years with around seven million people subbed to the streaming platform at the end of last year.
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The cost of living crisis has seen a lot of streaming platforms lose subscribers.
According to an analysis from the research firm Kantar, UK households stopped paying for almost 170,000 streaming services in the final three months of last year.
The top reason given for households cutting subscriptions was: “I want to save money.”
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