Dragons, Jedis, Marvel and DC superheroes, Harry Potter, Disney princesses — and more from Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery — are now available to stream for a reduced monthly price.
Starting Thursday, July 25, the new Disney+, Hulu and Max streaming bundle goes on sale in the U.S. Eligible new and existing subscribers can purchase the three-way bundle for $16.99/month with ads and $29.99/month without ads.
On the ad-supported side, that’s a savings of up to 38.8% compared with the price of the services purchased separately (Disney+ Basic at $7.99, Hulu with ads at $7.99, Max With Ads at $9.99). You can save nearly 35% on the no-ads bundle compared with the regular monthly standalone prices (Disney+ Premium at $13.99, Hulu no-ads at $17.99 and Max Ad-Free at $16.99).
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery — who are otherwise fierce competitors — announced plans for the bundle in early May. Available only in the U.S., the bundle provides content from across each media company’s portfolio of brands, including Disney, HBO, Hulu, Warner Bros. Pictures, FX, ABC, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, Star Wars, CNN, DC, Discovery, Food Network and HGTV.
The strategy for the media companies is to boost engagement and reduce churn (i.e., cancelations), given evidence that consumers who take price-discounted bundles have higher retention rates. Bundles also can yield lower customer-acquisition costs. In a similar tie-up, Disney, WBD and Fox Corp. are angling to launch the Venu Sports bundle of live channels in the fall.
In a way, the Disney+-Hulu-Max bundle represents a move to reconstitute the consolidated packaging of pay-TV — which has been steadily eroding for the past several years amid the surge in lower-cost streaming options.
Consumers can only sign up for the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle via direct-billed purchases on the web directly through the Max, Disney+ or Hulu websites. Existing subs can switch from their current Max, Disney+ or Hulu subscription to the bundle; however, neither Hulu + Live TV or the Max Ultimate Ad-Free plan are available as part of the bundle offer.
In support of the launch, a coordinated, cross-platform national marketing campaign kicks off today and is focused on each streamer’s collection of fan-favorite TV series, films and characters. The carefully tailored campaign includes a robust blitz across national broadcast, social, digital, and owned-and-operated channels. (Watch the 60-second version of the spot below.)
In industry lingo, the Disney+-Hulu-Max combo is a “synthetic” bundle, meaning the services remain operationally separate (i.e., you access each service in its respective app). That’s in contrast to a “hard” bundle that fully integrates separate streaming packages into one user experience, as Disney has done in merging Hulu into Disney+ for customers of both.
The new bundle reflects “a restructuring of how people view content,” WBD CEO David Zaslav said in May. “I went through a generation of disruption — not quite as big as this — but, you know, when my career started, when the cable business was a real disruption,” he said. “And as we look at what happens ahead, there likely will be a, you know, a restructuring of how people view content.”
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Meanwhile, Netflix — in a flex reflecting its market-leading position — told investors last week in its Q2 shareholder letter that it hasn’t entered into direct-bundling deals with other streamers like Disney+ or Max “because Netflix already operates as a go-to destination for entertainment thanks to the breadth and variety of our slate and superior product experience.”
Disney and WBD touted the broad swath of content available from the trio of services in the new bundle. The lineup includes “Family Guy,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Simpsons”; movie franchises like Disney’s Frozen, Marvel’s Avengers, Star Wars and Pixar’s Toy Story; and Warner Bros. Discovery movie and TV franchises like Batman, the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon.” Upcoming originals premieres include Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 (Aug. 27), “Agatha All Along” on Disney+ (Sept. 18) and “The Penguin” on Max (September).
SEE ALSO: Streaming Bundles Are All the Rage — but They Can’t Bring Back Pay-TV’s Glory Days
Watch the 60-second version of the Disney+-Hulu-Max bundle spot:
Source Agencies
