Will Hulu integration help Disney+ boost flagging engagement?
Will Hulu integration help Disney+ boost flagging engagement?
The decrease in volume of Marvel and Star Wars titles has caused an engagement decline on Disney+; will bringing Hulu in help?
With all of the opportunities that come along with owning the rights to major entertainment franchises comes the responsibility of managing that intellectual property smartly so as not to exhaust fans. Disney has learned that lesson the hard way with the Marvel and Star Wars; Disney+ used to release multiple shows from both franchises every year, but has had to pull back as fan reaction soured over the years. New data from Luminate is showing the effects of that retooled content strategy, including the decline in engagement on the streamer as a result, and what could help Disney+ bounce back.
Key Details:
- In a slump: Engagement numbers on Disney+ have declined in part as a result of fewer original releases.
- Here comes Hulu: Disney+ will fully integrate Hulu in 2026.
- Holding steady: Hulu has maintained its market share of viewership for original titles over the past few years.
For more than a year, Disney has pursued a clear strategy of reducing the output of original series from the Marvel and Star Wars universes in order to (hopefully) improve the quality of titles that do get released. Disney has made that strategy explicit with Marvel, and the results are plain to see: so far in 2025, only one show from each franchise has been released; “Andor” Season 2, and “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 1.
Luminate’s data shows that more than 40 original series premiered on Disney+ in 2022, but that has been reduced to 16 in the first three quarters of 2025. The cutbacks in production of originals has been most notable in the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, but it’s affected just about every genre of original releases on Disney+.
That’s led to a big decrease in engagement of streaming originals for Disney+. Numbers from Luminate show that Disney+’s share of streaming original viewership has fallen by 66% in the past three years, declining from 9% of all viewership in 2022 to just 3% through the third quarter of 2025.
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The good news for Disney+ is that reinforcements are on the way from Hulu. In a way, they’ve already arrived; a wide selection of Hulu programming, including its originals, is already found on Disney+ for customers who have subscriptions to both services. But on an as-yet undetermined date in 2026, Disney+ will permanently integrate Hulu on the same app.
In other words, customers will have to watch Hulu titles on Disney+ before next year is out. Hulu’s market share of viewership for original series has remained steady at 6% over the last three years, so assuming it pulls the audience that watches these titles on the Hulu app now to Disney+, that service could see its engagement rise again as it continues to retool its major franchises.
Sagging engagement is never what streaming executives want to see, even if it’s being caused by a content strategy that could benefit Disney+ in the long run if it can make its Marvel and Star Wars titles must-see TV again. But having Hulu content become available permanently on Disney+ could help the streamer bring those numbers back up while it decides how to proceed with its premier IP.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”