Merge into one: Disney announces a new App that integrates Disney+ and Hulu

Thank you, CTOnews.com netizens. Hello, rabbit clue delivery! CTOnews.com May 11 news, Disney today released the latest financial results. The company had second-quarter revenue of $21.82 billion (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 150.994 billion yuan); adjusted earnings per share of 93 cents.

In the second quarter, Disney's theme park, experience and consumer goods business had revenue of $7.78 billion (currently about 53.838 billion yuan); theme park, experience and consumer goods business operating profit of $2.17 billion (currently about 15.016 billion yuan); streaming losses narrowed to $659 million (currently about 4.56 billion yuan).

Bob Iger, Disney chief executive, said on an earnings call that he planned to launch a streaming app with Hulu and Disney + programming by the end of the year, describing it as "a reasonable development of our DTC products". He noted that Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ will continue to be offered as separate services.

Before that, Disney had already offered bundling services of Hulu and Disney +. According to reports, the new app is aimed at users who have already purchased bundled services, and the App will put the contents of the two services in the same application, which is also to bring more advertising revenue to the company.

Iger also said the company would "rationalize" the amount and investment of streaming content, but he did not provide details. Pricing will also increase with the new merger plan, he said.

In addition, Christina McCarthy, Disney's chief financial officer, said the company would bear $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion in impairment charges related to content cuts and other streamlining of the company's streaming business.

Mr Iger said he preferred Disney to retain its majority stake in Hulu than he did earlier this year, when he said "all possibilities are under consideration" for Hulu's future. He said he had earlier talked to Comcast about buying out his 33 per cent stake in Hulu.

He pointed out that the advertising opportunities for a single app are "exciting" because 40% of the company's domestic advertising units are locatable. This means that they can target individual audiences through a range of features, rather than traditional "jet" TV commercials. With the help of streaming New Horizon, Disney has attracted a total of 5000 advertisers, Mr. Iger said. A single application will "create more opportunities for advertisers and provide more powerful and streamlined content for bundled users, thereby increasing audience participation and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience," he said. "

Disney has planned to package Hulu and Disney + in early advertising sales negotiations with advertisers, and as foreign media have previously reported, Disney + has lost users in North America due to higher prices, as does its Indian affiliate Hotstar.

Higher prices and lower marketing spending helped Disney reduce its streaming losses to $659 million, compared with $887 million in the same period last year. However, Iger played down the severity of the loss of users and said Disney plans to raise the price of its ad-free Disney + service again later this year and try to get more users to use its cheaper service with ads.