MEDIAGPT | GLOBAL STREAMING
Hulu and ESPN programming folded into one app, plus a new recommendation engine and vertical video — "reducing churn may be the biggest opportunity we have"
Note: Won figures in the Korean edition of this article use KRW 1,440 to the dollar, the Seoul close at end-July 2026.
Disney is redesigning Disney+ as the single entry point to everything the company sells. Chief Executive Josh D'Amaro has told his leadership team to treat the service as the front door for fans worldwide, and the execution plan that has emerged runs on four tracks: a sharper recommendation algorithm, vertical video, the integration of Hulu and ESPN programming into one app, and a doubling of local-language production budgets in markets led by South Korea. Lucas Shaw and Thomas Buckley reported the plan for Bloomberg on July 30. A fully unified app experience is targeted for the second half of 2026.
The overhaul arrives as the streaming revenue equation shifts from acquiring subscribers to holding watch time. As pay-TV households thinned out and the cash the network business used to hand over got thinner with them, ad tiers, bundles and price increases became standard, and streaming moved past the stage of covering losses into the stage of earning a return.