
Warner Brothers Discovery CEO Shares Update On Disney+ Hulu Max Bundle
Last month, Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery launched a brand new bundle, bringing together Disney+, Hulu and Max, bringing together the three streaming services for $16.99/month with ads and $29.99/month without ads, which can give customers savings of up to 38% compared with the price of the services purchased separately.
During a recent quarterly financial investors call, Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslav shared an update on the initial consumer response to the launch of the Disney+, Hulu & Max bundle.
Here in the US two weeks ago, we launched the ultimate bundle in the Disney+, Hulu, Max package. We’ve been extremely pleased with the response from consumers and look forward to tracking and updating you on what we believe is a compelling consumer experience that will provide an even stronger retention profile. And in the fall, we’ll roll out Venu Sports with ESPN and Fox.
During the question and answer session of the investor call, David was asked what the future for Max was and if they are looking to explore more joint ventures or license more content, to which he replied:
As you know, we spent the last two years rebuilding Max and we are at our core of a global media company. We have infrastructure in every country. We have local content and sports in most countries, and we have relationships with distributors. So we’ve really been kind of chomping at the bit to get this product launched globally.In order to be competitive and ultimately to be long-term and have sustainable growth, we think one of the key advantages is that we are and can be a global leader. The fact that we’re now launched in Latin America and we launched in the second half of the quarter in Europe, we’re off to a terrific start.It’ll be a blend. We’re seeing real growth, as you’ve seen, almost 4 million subscribers internationally last quarter. We’ll see more this quarter. We’re also in the U.S., we’re off to a very good start with our Disney bundle and so I think this is all going to be driven by the consumer experience. The offering that we have and the content that we have is working very well in Europe and Latin America, and in some cases, like the example I gave in Brazil, or it’s very early, but what we believe will be a very compelling consumer offering with Disney+ and with Hulu, that all of those will add to sustainable and more accelerated
Since the bundle has only been available for a couple of weeks, it’s still in the early days and in the honeymoon period, but following the recent price rises being announced, this bundle is even more inviting for subscribers and worth looking at, which is exactly what the companies want us to do.
Roger’s Take: I’ve got little doubt that if the Disney+, Hulu & Max bundle is a success in the United States, we could see this copied in other countries, as it would give a big boost to both platforms and reduce churn. Warner Brothers Discovery is looking at ways to save money and piggy backing off other established platforms is a cheaper way to try to grow.
Have you taken advantage of the Disney+, Hulu & Max bundle? Let me know on social media!