In May of this year, Disney signed a deal with Comcast, giving the company full operating control of Hulu. Soon after, we reported on discussions of how Disney+ and Hulu planned to work together on everything from content to customer management.
After ESPN+ launched last year, and after the official launch of Disney+ this week, Disney can now focus on their third streaming service – Hulu. Staffers at Hulu are preparing the changes ahead, and not everyone is optimistic about what these changes will mean for the platform’s existing plans.
Hulu has been working on plans for international expansion for some time. According to a report from The Information, those plans are still in place, with Latin America set as the first market when international expansion begins. Sources for The Information said there’s talk of renaming some Fox networks internationally, giving them a Hulu branding update.
The worry among Hulu staff is that Hulu won’t be a top focus for Disney, but a secondary service used to promote the new Disney+ service. While customers were happy to see a bundle deal for Disney+, ESPN+, and ad-supported Hulu, the marketing tool was concerning for some employees. Sources say that there’s fear about marketing team layoffs and changes that would result in losing those with valuable experience in areas where Hulu has thrived.
There is also concern over making the switch the Disney’s BAMTech platform. Disney purchased BAMTech in 2017 and is currently using the platform for Disney+ as well as ESPN+ to prevent outages and limit buffering. However, despite Disney saying they were prepared for a rush of subscribers, there were technical errors that caused the service to be down for many users, just hours after launching.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on any potential changes in leadership, strategy, and infrastructure at Hulu under Disney’s leadership.
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