From Foes to Potential Flows: Unpacking the Max, Disney+, Hulu Streaming Bundle

To paraphrase the rapper Rick Ross, “Everyday I’m bundling!” 

After years of direct-to-consumer driven unbundling, fragmentation and segmentation, the entertainment media ecosystem is coupling up once more. We may look back at 2024 as streaming’s “mating season” as new bundles such as the sports-centric Venu (Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, Disney), StreamSaver (Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV+), and the Max, Disney+, Hulu contingent are announced and/or launched. 

Today, we’re focused on that last tag-team between WBD and Disney. Specifically, the pros and cons of such a streaming partnership. 

On the bright side, Max, Disney+ and Hulu share less than 5% of small screen titles across their libraries, according to Parrot Analytics’ Content Panorama. There is minimal TV overlap between the three, providing distinct content collections. This, arguably, extracts full value out of the partnership from the consumer perspective as customers receive a wide variety of differentiated programming at a reasonable cost (WBD and Disney have not yet announced pricing information). 

Hulu will supply the largest TV catalog of the three services (42%), followed by Max (39.7%) and Disney+ (13.7%). The combination of Hulu’s large library of linear series, Max assets such as HBO and Warner Bros. films, and Disney’s war chest of blockbuster franchise properties is enticing on paper. But what about in actuality? 

Many consumers are already subscribed to these services and may not transition to a bundle offering, suggesting a potential growth ceiling for the combined service. It doesn’t help that you’ll still need separate apps to access the Disney+/Hulu and Max libraries, increasing user experience friction. 

Perhaps more importantly is the combined value of differentiated programming. The combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ undoubtedly provided more four-quadrant broad appeal, yet not necessarily a bolt of consumption synergy. The combined Max’s growth stalled and subscribers plateaued. 

From a strategic standpoint, it’s good that these three libraries have little in title overlap, but the bundle needs to have interest overlap in order to keep subscribers engaged long-term. Fans of Hulu’s The Bear need to be properly funneled to Max’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; a bridge needs to be built Disney+’s Marvel content and Max’s library of DC titles. 

Entertainment is a hits-driven business, creating a top-heavy system in which a minority of titles drive the majority of engagement. Is there enough connective tissue between each streamer’s top titles to elicit mass interest? From there, can the cross-company cooperation build seamless pathways between the different services to garner a long-tail of engagement? We’re about to find out.