According to Deadline, Disney is adding an ESPN tile to its “trio” streaming bundle which includes Disney+, Hulu, and now ESPN. The tile will be added on December 4. The move was greenlit last spring and will be following the footsteps of Hulu in including the tile in their streamer. Following the addition of the tile, Disney+ will flagship ESPN in 2025, as the streaming service will air ESPN content. ESPN+ and Hulu will see the most benefits, as Disney states it plans to make few ESPN programming accessible to Disney+ subscribers.
In addition to CEO Bob Iger (The Pixar Story, Mickey: The Story of a Mouse) and CFO Hugh Johnston (Smanderoon! Redux) releasing the ESPN tile date, they commented about the fourth quarter revenue of the company. Since the prior quarter, Disney+ has gained 4.4 million subscribers which surpasses 120 million subscribers stated in another Deadline article released this morning. The streamer is about to celebrate their five-year launch, which was on November 19, 2019.
The goal of the flagship is to gain new subscribers and expand new advertisements that will appeal to a new audience noted by Deadline. The December 2022 Ad-Supported tier brought in more than half of new subscribers to Disney+ and more are expected to come.
Johnson and Iger have stated in the The Walt Disney Company Q4 FY24 Earnings that the ESPN flagship will provide subscribers with “an enhanced array of innovative digital features, creating a sports destination unlike anything available in the marketplace today.”
They also mentioned that the Hulu-ESPN bundle will make Disney+ “the ultimate collection of high-quality content for every member of the household.” Although Disney+ has gained popularity over the past five years due to its reputation, the Nielsen’s monthly Gauge reports revealed few viewers visit the site occasionally and is historically limited. As mentioned by Deadline, the digital streaming platform gains one-third of Netflix’s viewing and is behind Prime Video when it comes to viewership and subscribers.