Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery have announced plans to offer a bundled service combining Disney+, Hulu, and Max to U.S. customers starting this summer.
The bundle will be accessible on all three platforms and will be available in both ad-supported and ad-free versions, though pricing details have yet to be disclosed.
The collaboration aims to counter stiff competition from industry leaders such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
“This new offering… will help drive incremental subscribers and much stronger retention,” Warner Bros Discovery executive JB Perrette said in a statement.
Further information about the bundle will be disclosed in the upcoming weeks.
As traditional TV viewership declines, both Disney and Warner Bros are seeking to boost their streaming service subscriptions.
The joint bundle aims to leverage the strengths of each service: Disney+ is renowned for its family-oriented content, while Warner’s Max offers more mature programming from HBO.
This strategy of combining services follows a growing trend among streaming companies. Earlier in February, Walt Disney’s ESPN, Fox Corp, and Warner Bros Discovery unveiled a new sports platform set to launch in the fall, featuring rights to major sports events including the FIFA World Cup and the NBA.
Disney reported in its latest quarterly earnings that Disney+ had added over six million global subscribers from January to March, excluding India, bringing its total to more than 117 million subscribers.
This growth is crucial for Disney+, which has seen slowing momentum but is considered vital to Disney’s overall future strategy.
Disney also informed investors of a forthcoming password-sharing crackdown expected to boost subscriber numbers.
The increasingly saturated streaming market has led some consumers to express frustration over the need to subscribe to numerous services. Bundling offers a solution by simplifying payments and potentially reducing costs for users.