by Thinus Ferreira
South Africans will finally get access to yet another streaming service - Hulu - with the Star tile on the Disney+ video streaming that carries general entertainment international content, which will be changed and rebranded to Hulu.
Besides M-Net (DStv 101) that acquired and carried some Hulu shows, some Hulu content has been available to South African subscribers of Disney+ for a few years now - it's just never been made that obvious.
Now The Walt Disney Company will be changing the Star tile within Disney+ and rebrand it globally outside of the United States on Disney+ to Hulu.
In America, Disney+ already had a Hulu tile and not a Star tile since Hulu was incorporated as a separately streamer into Disney+ since April 2024.
The Star/Hulu-tile is similar to Paramount Global which never got as far as actually launching its Paramount+ video streaming in South Africa or elsewhere in Africa and with MultiChoice and Showmax that settled for incorporating Paramount+ as just a branded studio tile in the relaunched Showmax app.
In prepared commentary on The Walt Disney Company's latest quarterly earnings report, Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston today said that "We are announcing a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+".
"You're going to end up with a far better consumer experience when those apps are combined by combining all of the programme assets of both current apps, and with an improved consumer experience comes the ability to lower churn, which is obviously something that we're very, very focused on and committed to doing."
"This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-calibre brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app."
"By creating a truly differentiated streaming offering, we will be providing subscribers tremendous choice, convenience, quality, and enhanced personalisation."
"This will enhance our ability to continue to grow profitability and margins in our entertainment streaming business through expected higher engagement, lower churn, and advertising revenue potential, as well as operational efficiencies that over time may result in savings that we can reinvest back into the business."
Within months, the Star tile on Disney+ will change to Hulu for all Disney+ subscribers outside of the United States, including in South Africa.
"Hulu will now become our global general entertainment brand. It will replace the Star tile on Disney+ internationally."
"Work is already underway to continue enhancing our technology, and over the coming months, we will be implementing numerous improvements within the Disney+ app - including exciting new features and a more personalised homepage - all of which will culminate with the unified Disney+ and Hulu streaming app experience that will be available to consumers next year," Bob Iger and Hugh Johnston said.
