Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery Team On Bundle includes Disney+, Hulu, and Max

GT

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery is making strides in streaming with a combined offering that includes Disney+, Hulu, and Max in one package.

The companies aim to launch the package this summer. The exact launch date and price point have yet to be announced, but plans call for ad-free and ad-supported versions to be available.

The move creates the first partnership between the companies for any of the high-profile services to come to market as the race to catch up with Netflix began in earnest about five years ago. It comes after years of speculation and public musings by top executives about when aggregation between companies might start making streaming more cost-effective for programmers and consumers alike. Pay TV operators were third-party aggregators in the cable era, but while distribution deals with the likes of Roku and Amazon are key to any streaming service gaining traction, they’re mostly each app for itself in the streaming era.

Churning, the industry term for the number of subscribers canceling subscriptions, has been a vexing problem for media companies long accustomed to the more stable patterns of pay TV, which is built on a foundation of long-term contracts and physical equipment. In the world of direct-to-consumer online businesses, a click on an app can evaporate revenue, which is one of many reasons companies are looking closely at bundling, especially with cord-cutting decimating their pay-TV network holdings.

Meanwhile, viewers complain about the dizzying array of apps and titles filling their screens, making the simple process of searching for something to watch a stressful process. The “endless scrolling” of Netflix and subsequent imitators has exacerbated the old lament (a reference to Bruce Springsteen) about 57 channels and nothing.

Within companies, synergistic bundling has been common for several years, with Disney at the forefront with its successful troika of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Many players are taking the next step and fully enhancing services. Max was rebranded last year from HBO Max and added Discovery+ content. Disney has been steadily getting its services together, adding the Hulu lineup to Disney+ earlier this year and planning ESPN later this year. Paramount+ and Showtime merge in 2023.

Disney, despite selling all of Hulu in a purchase of Comcast’s stake in recent months, has shown increasing interest in streaming joint ventures. We recently cooperated with Fox Corp. and WBD in a sports-focused broadcast package. The as-yet-unnamed service, nicknamed “Spulu,” is scheduled to launch this fall.

Brands that will be featured in the new Disney-WBD package include ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight and Warner Bros. The new show will be available for purchase on any of the three streaming platforms’ websites.

“Following the highly successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will provide subscribers with even more choice and value,” said Joe Early, president of Direct to Consumer at Disney Entertainment. “This incredible new partnership puts subscribers first, giving them access to blockbuster movies, original films and three massive libraries of the best brands and entertainment in streaming today.”

“We’re very excited about this,” said J.B. Perrett, CEO and President of Worldwide Broadcast and Games, Warner Bros. Discovery: “This new offering provides consumers with the widest range of entertainment at the best value in streaming, and will help grow subscriber numbers and retention much stronger.” “Delivering this unprecedented entertainment value to audiences across all free genres offered by these three services represents a powerful new roadmap for the future of the industry.”