From Business Insider · James Faris · · 2m
Disney+ plans vertical clips, free tier and Hulu merger
An internal presentation shows Disney's streaming strategy for 2027, including short-form video, a free ad-supported tier, and full app integration with Hulu.
In brief
An internal presentation shows Disney's streaming strategy for 2027, including short-form video, a free ad-supported tier, and full app integration with Hulu. Disney revealed plans to add five hundred vertical clips daily, launch a free tier with ad-supported channels, and fully merge Disney+ with Hulu by early twenty…
Disney reveals streaming strategy
An internal Disney presentation shows the company's top priorities for Disney+ in the coming year, including vertical video clips, creator content, and a free tier.
Five hundred clips daily by April
Disney plans to ramp up to adding five hundred vertical clips per day by the end of next quarter, which concludes in early April, starting this quarter with about one hundred fifty clips a day.
New content types every quarter
Disney will add new content types including clips of sports, news, and short-form micro series with micro dramas, aiming to integrate creator content starting next quarter.
Free tier with ads and sampling
Disney+ will launch a free plan featuring FAST channels, which are free always-on streaming feeds supported by advertising, and content sampling to attract new viewers.
Super Bowl livestream in 4K
Disney+ will livestream the Super Bowl in the US for the first time in mid-February, with live four K HDR, lower latency, and live event monitoring to protect against piracy.
Hulu and Disney+ become one app
Disney is merging Hulu with Disney+ through Project Gemini, with one app milestones scheduled through Disney's fiscal fourth quarter, which runs from early July to early October.
Building a super app ecosystem
The merged app will let users play games and buy merchandise without leaving Disney+, with D'Amaro telling employees Disney planned to introduce elements of this expanded ecosystem in the spring.
“introduce elements of this expanded ecosystem”
Competing with YouTube and Netflix
Disney's streamers accounted for four point eight percent of US TV viewership in August, well behind YouTube at fifteen point eight percent and Netflix at seven point seven percent.
The one thing
Disney revealed plans to add five hundred vertical clips daily, launch a free tier with ad-supported channels, and fully merge Disney+ with Hulu by early twenty twenty-seven.
