Late last year, Disney+ added a new Hulu hub in the United States, bringing Hulu’s content into Disney+ for bundled subscribers. Later this year, Disney is going to introduce an ESPN hub into Disney+ in the United States, offering some selected ESPN content for free. Much like with Hulu, ESPN+ content will be available to subscribers of that platform.

The addition of these new hubs is aimed at improving the engagement rate of subscribers within Disney+ and with the launch of the Hulu On Disney+ hub, much like Disney saw with the introduction of the Star general entertainment hub internationally, it has already proven to be a hit.

During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney’s entertainment division, she revealed some details on this.

Programming and technology, and we’re moving forward on both fronts. Think about Hulu on Disney+. We’re moving in the right direction. We see Disney+ subscribers increasing their engagement because they are watching the Hulu content.

Dana was asked why, considering Disney has the best collection of content in the world, why is it so hard to access everything, since in the US, Disney customers need to be subscribed to multiple platforms to access everything, to which she replied:

All that we are offering to subscribers in the form of Hulu on Disney+ and these four new streams, an ESPN tile launching in December … these are all innovations in streaming platforms that will help make it significantly easier for subscribers to find the maximum amount of our content in one place.

During that same interview, she was asked about the amount of content they are creating to compete with Netflix and how they can help improve engagement, to which she replied:

Bob has talked about growing our volume internationally, globally. In the US, we have the right level of volume. Particularly when two platforms are viewed in one experience. Internationally, we could expand on what we’re doing in local markets. That’s something we hope to accomplish.

She also explained why they’ve been cutting back on their international content:

We did because we were waiting for our technology roadmap to be able to create an engagement dynamic where content will be well surfaced and meaningfully merchandised. We’ve had a lot of success in APAC. In [Latin America], we’ve had several successes on the content front. Our EMEA slate is very young. While we’ve had some success in terms of specific countries, we have not yet had that big explosive hit we anticipate having at some point. Cutting back on content was a reflection of a desire to invest in technology and then ramp back up on the slate.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has also spoken about how they know they need to improve the Disney+ user experience with a better algortihm to offer a more curated lineup of content to users, similar to Netflix and YouTube, which Dana also reconfirmed is one of their major goals.

On tech, we have a number of goals, one of which is to have a best-in-class algorithm that is able to process long histories of viewership like Netflix does. And be very targeted in recommendations.

Roger’s Take:  It does feel like Disney is in an awkward stage right now. You can see what they are trying to do, bringing together their three services into one, but they are also limited by the ongoing situation with Comcast to finalise the closure of the buyout deal, which would allow Disney to make some drastic changes, like merging Hulu into Disney+, to offer a single platform for its entertainment content.   Disney’s been drastically cutting back on how much content it creates because, as Dana said, when combined, they have enough volume to keep them both supplied with new content.   Unfortunately, we are just in the lull before the transformation storm; they’ve positioned the pieces into place, and now it is just about finishing the job.

Do you think Disney has the right mix of content right now?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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