Bog Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, announced in a conference with analysts, the expansion of Disney+, as well as the plan to launch the Hulu service internationally in 2021, after finishing the consolidation of Disney+. After recently reaching 28.6 million subscribers, Disney+ seeks to continue its expansion to compete in the market.
“The debut of Disney+ has been extremely successful, exceeding our greatest expectations,” said Iger. The platform, which is available in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand, will continue its expansion upon arriving to Europe in the UK, Ireland, Irland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France, the latter which already has an agreement with Canal+, as of March 24 for 6.99 euros per month or 69.99 euros per year. Likewise, they will add India next month, which they will reach through the platform Hotstar. “We will rename Hotstar VIP and Premium as Disney+ Hotstar. We see this as a great opportunity to use a platform that is already successful to launch Disney+ in one of the most populous countries and one of the fastest-growing economies worldwide,” said Iger, adding that there will probably be two products: one more premium, with all the libraries content, plus original material, and another more basic one with the library and for a lower price. After, he will continue his tour through Belgium, the Nordic countries and Portugal for summer, and will arrive in Latin America on September 20.
Regarding Hulu, commented that they “are working on a plan to take Hulu to an international level. For the time being, we don`t have a specific plan except for the fact that we want to start the expansion in 2021, after that of Disney+”.