Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, December 7th, 2023

The next step in the future of Disney+ & Hulu is not combining into one app.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, December 7th, 2023. 

PROGRAMMING NOTE
My apologies for the very late newsletter tonight. Some real-life distractions kept me offline most of the evening. 

THE NEXT STEP IN THE FUTURE OF HULU AND DISNEY+ IS NOT COMBINING INTO ONE APP
There is a strain of entertainment industry hot takes I like to describe as "this just makes perfect sense" articles. They are usually written by some unfortunate young entertainment journalist who is tasked with cranking out more stories that anyone with two years experience should be asked to contribute.

So they end up writing speculative pieces that often sound as if they've unexpectedly stumbled across the answer to some industry problem they believe no one has considered until they came along. The details of the idea are often a bit shaky, but the underlying premise generally comes down to some variation of "this just makes perfect sense."

One topic in this genre that comes up quite frequently is the "Disney should just combine Disney+ and Hulu into one app. They're already combined outside the U.S. and it just makes perfect sense." Now, to be fair, a lot of veteran industry reporters have made the same argument, so it is a popular one. But that doesn't mean it's correct.

I mean, I get why someone might think that. Hulu exists as a standalone service only in the U.S., Puerto Rico, a number of military bases and some places in Japan. In some other parts of the world, Disney has combined its Disney+ streaming service with HotStar, an Indian-based streaming service it acquired when it purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019. 

So the theory is "hey, in a lot of places you can subscribe to Disney+ Hotstar. So why not just roll Hulu into Disney+ in the U.S. and begin selling Disney+ Hulu?

While that idea falls into the "this just makes perfect sense" category, the real life story is a bit more complex. The truth is that while Hotstar is integrated into Disney+ in a number of countries in Asia - India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand - it is offered as a standalone service in Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore. In fact, Hotstar was sold as a standalone service in the U.S. until 2021, when Disney rolled the content into Hulu.

So when you look at the strategic decisions by Disney, you see that different countries and territories get a different solution. One which often depends on content availability and existing branding.

Which brings us to Hulu. It currently has 48.5 million subscribers in the U.S., and while growth has slowed a bit, it continues to add subscribers. On the other hand, subscriber growth at Disney+ has stalled and in some cases has dropped over the past several quarters.

The temptation is to argue combining the two services in the U.S. would provide the ever-popular perceived increase in subscriber value, which would lessen churn and hopefully allow Disney to continue to raise prices.

But as the executives at Warner Bros. Discovery can tell you, subscribers aren't so easy to convince when it comes to giving up a familiar streaming service. WBD continues to attempt to push subscribers away from Discovery+ and onto a combined Max. But that effort has met with mixed results, despite efforts to make the latter service less useful to subscribers.

And Hulu has a strong brand in the U.S. Despite losing most of the CBS and NBCUniversal content, it's still seen as a service with a lot of "next-day" streaming options. It has also developed a robust original lineup, thanks in part to a decision to brand some FX-produced content as a "Hulu Original." Thanks to deals with Crunchyroll and several other distributors, it has a robust selection of anime and continues to take advantage of its relationship with the A&E Networks to beef up its slate of shows from A&E, History and others.

And content is one of the big challenges when it comes to combining the two services in the U.S. A number of content deals at Hulu won't allow Disney to shift the shows to Disney+. And given that many of the Hulu Originals are currently being licensed to rival streaming services outside the U.S., combining the two services - even in just the U.S. - would be messy.

But the technical challenges of combining the two services is perhaps the biggest stumbling block. Hulu and Disney+ run on two different tech stacks, and I've been told that despite a lot of efforts over the past two years, combining the two services would require an expensive and time-consuming complete rebuild. Especially when you consider Hulu also has a relatively strong vMVPD in Hulu Live.

There's also just the problem of content discovery. The bigger the service, the easier it is for subscribers to get lost. As Max perfectly illustrates, adding a lot of new content can overwhelm subscribers and make it difficult for them to find favorite programs and genres.

Which brings us to this week's launch of a Hulu section on Disney+. A lot of journalists have been hyping this as a precursor to combining the two services. But the way it is being implemented suggests its an effort to highlight each service in a way that will hopefully convince subscribers of one service to bundle both of them together.

Each service remains independent in the U.S. But subscribers who pay for either the Disney bundle (Hulu, Disney+ and in some cases, ESPN+) or subscribe to each service independently but with the same email address, began seeing some Hulu content pop-up this week on Disney+. There's a dedicated Hulu tile on Disney+, which includes a number of Hulu Originals and movies that had previously only been available on Hulu. But not everything on Hulu is available on Disney+.

Hulu has also begun highlighting Disney+ in some of its internal promotions, as you can see in the splashpage below. The two services are being highlighted in a way that differentiates them, while still making the argument that the only way to get "everything" is to subscribe to both.

I suspect the theory is that this is the easiest way to lower churn and increase revenue by moving more subscribers to the "Disney Bundle." It's a much cheaper option than combining the two services and it allows continued differentiation between Hulu and Disney+.

This doesn't mean the two services won't be combined at some point in the future. But it's not a given and there are some solid strategic reasons to keep the two services separate in the U.S.

THANKS 
In this world of declining social media viability and a consolidated entertainment press, it can be a challenge to grow an independent media company. But one of the most effective ways to do that is via word of mouth.

I appreciate every mention of TooMuchTV and AllYourScreens, but this one in Tim Goodman's Substack this week was especially humbling:

I first started reading Goodman when he was working at the SF Chronicle and I was working at a soon-to-be-doomed journalism start-up which wanted to be Cheddar back in the days when most people still connected to the internet via a dial-up connection. His approach to television helped guide me as I was trying to figure out if there was a spot for me in the world as a TV critic. And his long run as the chief TV critic of The Hollywood Reporter showed me a way in which I could write about the medium as part of a larger discussion about art, wine, music and life.

I've never been lucky enough to speak with Goodman, but I admire his talent. So kind words from him mean a lot and it helped to make a difficult week go down easier.

ODDS AND SODS
* Peacock has renewed Twisted Metal for a second season.

* Season 28 of Antiques Roadshow premieres Monday, January 8th on PBS. The season stops at five cities across the United States, including a first-ever visit to Anchorage, Alaska.

* A social media post about a lost country song in The X-Files went viral, setting up a mystery fit for the show itself. Now, the song has been found.

I AM PRETTY SURE THAT VEGAN JOKES AND MAN-BUN CHARACTERS WILL BE PART OF THE SHOW

WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, 2023:
* Analog Squad Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Archie (Britbox)
* Boom Boom Bruno Series Premiere (Max)
* Christmas At The Opry (NBC)
* Coach (Prime Video)
* Elmo & Tango Holiday Helpers (Max)
* High Tides (Knokke Off) Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Hilda Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
* Hush (ALLBLK)
* I Hate Christmas (Netflix)
* My Life With The Walter Boys Series Premiere (Netflix)
* NAGA (Netflix)
* Rescuing Christmas (Hallmark Movies Now)
* Silent Night, Fatal Night (LMN)
* Southern Hospitality Season Premiere (Bravo)
* The Archies (Netflix)
* The Black Hamptons Season Premiere (BET+)
* The Envoys (Paramount+)
* The Lovers Series Premiere (Sundance Now)
* To All A Good Night (HMM)
* World War II: From The Frontlines (Netflix)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8TH:
* A Very Demi Holiday Special (The Roku Channel)
* Baby Shark's Big Movie (Nickelodeon)
* Backyards Gone Wild (HGTV)
* Blood Vessel (Netflix)
* Culprits (Hulu)
* Dating Santa (Santa mi amor) (Prime Video)
* Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Christmas Cabin Fever (Disney+)
* Leave The World Behind (Netflix)
* Magic In Mistletoe (Hallmark)
* Merry Little Batman (Prime Video)
* Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (Peacock)
* The Great British Baking Show: Holidays (Netflix)
* The Sacrifice Game (Shudder)
* Women On The Edge (Netflix)
* World's First Christmas (O Primeiro Natal do Mundo) (Prime Video)
* Your Christmas Or Mine 2 (Prime Video)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU TUESDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.