Disney continues to build its streaming services, as was confirmed by CEO Bob Iger on an earnings call last week. Although Disney+ got a bulk of the attention, Hulu and ESPN+ aren’t being forgotten. During the call, Iger confirmed that Disney still has its sights set on expansion for Hulu with a global expansion to begin sometime in 2021.
While Disney+ took first priority, Disney is working on licensing and other deals to bring Hulu to international markets. Iger said that the international expansion should happen in 2021. An exact time wasn’t shared by Iger as things could change. It also hasn’t been made clear if there will be a streaming bundle that would include Disney’s streaming services overseas like there is in the United States.
Disney+ will be expanding its global reach in the coming months. It will be arriving in much of Western Europe in March, along with India. It will continue to expand globally in 2021.
“We feel that we need to concentrate on those launches, in the marketing and the creation of product for those and then come in with Hulu right after or soon after that,” said Iger. “So we don’t have specifics, except we do plan to begin rolling Hulu out, I’d say probably in 2021 — internationally that is — after the Disney Plus launch,” he added.
In the same earnings call where Iger confirmed Hulu’s global expansion, he also shared that the subscription numbers for Disney+ were also quite positive. Currently Disney+, which launched in November, is nearing 30 million subscribers. The 12 year old Hulu has 30.4 million subscribers. Disney has offered bundles of its streaming services to encourage more subscribers.
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