Disney's Streaming Success Isn't Reliant on Disney+

Ever since the Disney+ streaming platform debuted on November 12, 2019, Disney fans haven’t been able to get enough of the service.

Disney+ is the streaming home of nearly all of Disney’s subsidiaries, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm/Star Wars, and Pixar Animation Studios.

Since 2019, notably, an entire catalog of Star Wars and MCU movies, including the nine-film Skywalker Saga and the entire Avengers Infinity Saga, have been added to the popular platform, which has exceeded all subscriber expectations.

Related: Marvel Pres. Kevin Feige Reportedly Livid, “Embarrassed” About ‘Black Widow’

Both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars have released numerous Disney+ Original series in addition to their feature films. Star Wars, for instance, has given fans two seasons of The Mandalorian, two animated series — Star Wars: Visions and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch — Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mandalorian spinoff The Book of Boba Fett.

But its undeniably “Mando” that has become the cornerstone of the Disney+ platform. The series — which introduced Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) and bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to the Star Wars universe — quickly skyrocketed up the charts and is now gearing up for its third season, which will see the returns of Djarin, Grogu, Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), and more.

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It is, however, important to note that people don’t subscribe to Disney’s streaming offerings only because of Disney+. The Disney Bundle is a great option for entertainment fans who want to enjoy The Walt Disney Company’s other offerings, as well.

Disney describes their bundled service option as:

The Disney Bundle includes subscriptions to Disney+, ESPN+, and the Hulu plan you select for a discounted price, as compared to the retail price of each subscription when purchased separately. The Disney Bundle is available with Hulu (Ad-supported) for $13.99/mo* or with Hulu (No Ads) for $19.99/mo.

Related: Marvel and ‘Star Wars’ Are Making Streaming History This Week

Last week, Disney announced a price increase for the Disney Bundle due to a cost hike for ESPN+ subscribers ahead of the 2022-2023 NFL season kickoff.

Now, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed that, although Disney+ subscribers are more likely to be long-term viewers than those who sign-up for Disney’s other streaming services, Hulu is where the potential for growth for the company really lies:

Subscribers to the stand-alone Hulu service are less loyal than Disney+ subscribers, the data show, and more likely to cancel their subscriptions than those who subscribe to Disney’s streaming bundle, which includes both services and the sports-focused ESPN+. In June, the latest month for which data was available, 4.7% of Hulu subscribers canceled their subscriptions, compared with just 2.5% of bundle subscribers and 3.83% of Disney+ subscribers, Antenna found.

“They did a great job of teeing up those hard-core Disney fans,” said Jonathan Carson, Antenna’s chief executive. “But there’s a broader and longer-term upside for Hulu, because it has general market appeal, while Disney+ has a much more specialized fan base.”

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Per WSJ, Disney spokeswoman confirmed that the trends shown in the Antenna data are “broadly accurate.” She did say, though, that despite Hulu’s accelerated growth, Disney+ is also seeing strong subscriber growth overall.

What do you think about Hulu potentially being the future cornerstone of Disney’s streaming services?