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Only days in, Disney+’s Hulu integration is already seeing success.
On Dec. 6, Disney officially rolled out its Hulu on Disney+ beta launch to bundle subscribers, bringing a Hulu hub to Disney+ and giving users access to thousands of movies and shows from the Hulu library without having to leave the app. The beta version provides a more limited experience, with the full Hulu integration coming in March, but Disney is already seeing promising results, according to global advertising president Rita Ferro.
“Just in the initial few days, we’re seeing better than expected metrics [for advertisers] across the board,” Ferro told Adweek. “For the bundle subscriber, for people who are customers of both Hulu and Disney+ with ads, it is a great opportunity to not have to go in and out—to be able to continue to consume that content within one app.”
Recently, the company revealed that 50% of new Disney+ subscribers choose the ad tier, and from March to September 2023, the service has seen a 35% increase in engagement.
Ferro told Adweek she’s looking forward to the impact when the full version of the Hulu and Disney+ integration comes in March, and the company has “big plans” for its content expansion strategy and how it thinks about programming the apps.
Marketers can still buy inventory on Hulu or Disney+ alone, but Ferro noted that clients looking to buy audiences across Hulu and Disney+ can do it all in one place with the new offering.
“If you’re on the app today, literally everyone has said, ‘Oh my God! It’s so much easier because I can just go into there, watch what I was watching and have a much more leanback experience,'” Ferro said.
Disney+’s Hulu integration is the latest example of bundling and consolidating within the TV industry, with Paramount also recently announcing its upcoming rebrand of its Showtime linear network to include its Paramount+ offering. Industry experts recently told Adweek they expect more streamer and linear consolidation coming in 2024.
Adding ad support
In addition to added Hulu content, Ferro noted that the Disney+ ad tier has made several changes since the company rolled it out a year ago, with advanced audience targeting; programmatic expansion across 30 DSPs (demand side platforms); more diversified ad formats, including midrolls, :15s and :90s; and enhanced measurement, which includes working with ad verification and delivery companies such as DoubleVerify and Moat.
According to Ferro, ad innovation will continue to be top of mind for the company as it heads into 2024. And with Disney rolling out its ad tier in nine markets in Europe and Canada in early November, bringing capabilities internationally will be a priority.
“We launched Disney+’s ad tier a year ago with 100 advertisers. We have 1,000 advertisers globally today,” Ferro said. “And the growth of that business is going to be critically important for us as we think about what other territories around the world we’re going to be entering and the capabilities that we’ve rolled out in the U.S. that we want to make sure we roll out globally.”
