Disney+ Hotstar To Rebrand As Disney+ In Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, & Indonesia
Earlier this year, following the completion of the merger between Disney’s Star India and Reliance, which saw Disney+ Hotstar in India merge with JioCinema to become JioHotstar. To coincide with the global rebrand of Star to Hulu, Disney has announced that, starting October 9th, it will rebrand Disney+ Hotstar in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia to Disney+.
The rebrand will enable subscribers to continue enjoying and exploring content they know and love on Disney+, including award-winning general entertainment, gold-standard family programming, and a growing collection of APAC Originals. Hulu is known for its breakout, award-winning Originals and its recognisable Hulu green colour.
It should be noted that the content will be staying the same and won’t include everything available on Hulu in the United States, but this is more of a general simplification of its streaming services globally.
Subscribers in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia can look forward to an exciting slate of U.S., Korean and Japanese originals arriving soon on the Hulu tile. Among the highly anticipated titles are Ryan Murphy’s stylish and high-stakes legal drama All’s Fair, featuring an ensemble cast led by Glenn Close, Kim Kardashian, and Niecy Nash; the lighthearted and warm Korean romantic comedy Would You Marry Me? starring Choi Woo-shik and Jung So-min; the gritty action-packed Korean thriller The Manipulated with Ji Changwook and Doh Kyungsoo; and the visually dynamic coming-of-age Japanese anime WANDANCE.
This exciting lineup adds to critically acclaimed global hits like Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Shōgun, High Potential, alongside well-loved Korean and Japanese content, including Tempest, Nine Puzzles, The Judge from Hell, A Shop for Killers, Moving and Gannibal.
Vineet Puri, Vice President and General Manager, The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia, said in a statement regarding the rebranding:
“Disney+ is known to have the most beloved library of content in Malaysia. With Hulu as our new general entertainment brand on Disney+, we will continue to deliver unparalleled storytelling to families, friends and fans,”
Roger’s Take: This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, as once Disney+ Hotstar was rebranded to JioCinema in India, it made sense that Disney would eventually drop the Hotstar branding in other countries, to offer a global experience, so they can save money on marketing costs. The big question is going to be, will countries using the Disney+ Hotstar branding or the Hotstar X version of Disney+ be moved over to the main app that is used in most countries?
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