Hulu will replace Star as a tile on the international Disney+ service.
This marks the first major international expansion for Hulu and closely follows Disney buying Comcast out of the U.S. streamer last month.
As Disney’s streaming business once again shone in its latest earnings quarter results Wednesday, the company’s executive commentary for Q3 revealed Hulu would become a “global general entertainment brand” that in the fall “will replace the Star tile on Disney+ internationally.”
Disney+ currently comprises Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic, with the ESPN and Star brands available in select territories.
“Work is already underway to continue enhancing our technology, and over the coming months, we will be implementing numerous improvements within the Disney+ app, including exciting new features and a more personalized homepage,” said Disney in the executive commentary that preceded an analyst call later this morning. “All of this work will culminate with the unified Disney+ and Hulu streaming app experience that will be available to consumers next year.”
While “fully integrating” the services, in the words of execs, will mean one tech stack and a more streamlined ad sales proposition, multiple press reports about a “wind-down” or “phase out” of Hulu as a stand-alone U.S. service appear to be premature. Even into 2026, a person familiar with the streaming strategy at Disney tells Deadline that stand-alone Hulu will still be available for customers not interested in a bundle with Disney+.
Hulu has little to no brand recognition outside of the U.S. and Japan, but some market watchers are positive about its prospects. “I actually think it’s a better brand than Star for international,” said Guy Bisson, Executive Director at Ampere Analysis.
“Internationally, I think it’s a sensible move,” said Jack Davison, Executive VP at 3Vision. “Audiences won’t care and the Star brand has meant many different things across some markets for some time now. It has a history in some markets – especially Asia – that likely confused things and it hasn’t clearly represented that part of Disney’s proposition.
“It presents an opportunity to clean up the positioning of that side of the D2C product and I can’t see it impacting the producers.”
As for axing Hulu in the States, Bisson said: “Any U.S. phase-out would need to be gradual, as I do think the brand carries weight there for a certain type of content – particularly among viewers interested in more network-type content.”
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Hulu has long been targeted as an international brand, with the streamer almost tying with UK network ITV on a major content deal as far back as 2009. However, that didn’t materialize and Hulu has ever since remained a U.S.-only brand, bar a service in Japan in 2011 that was sold to Nippon three years later. Coincidentally – or not – ITV and Disney+ recently began a content-sharing partnership that sees their services in the UK running select batches of the other’s content.
One European agent, Florent Lamy, who founded Paris-based Elevate Management, wrote on social media: “Smart and long-awaited move from Disney. Consolidating Hulu as a global brand inside Disney+ not only simplifies the experience — it gives more clarity to creators, viewers and strategic partners across markets. As someone working daily on connecting U.S. talent to international audiences, I see this shift as a major signal: Global storytelling needs brand architecture that travels. Curious to see how this will shape the way platforms position and finance content internationally over the next 2-3 years.”
Others are suggesting that the fact Hulu hasn’t launched as a standalone service acts as a warning that U.S. consolidation will reduce opportunity for local creators. “Disney’s betting on one platform, one brand, one global user journey,” wrote Edinburgh TV Festival Executive Chair Fatima Salaria on LinkedIn. “That means fewer local commissions, less room for regional identity, and more content pulled from a central pipeline, shaped by algorithms not curators… This isn’t just a rebrand, it’s a shift in power.”
Disney launched Disney+ in 2019 and rolled out over following years. The Star brand, which was widely used and well-known across Latin America and Asia, was designated as the general entertainment tile.
Disney only a few weeks ago completed the process of buying out Comcast’s stake in Hulu. The streaming service, which started off as a joint venture and at one point involved four media giants as stakeholders, came under Disney’s operational control in 2019 as part of the company’s $71.3 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox.
In the U.S., Hulu programming has been steadily integrated into the Disney+ flagship amid speculation that the nearly 20-year-old streaming outlet would ultimately be absorbed into Disney+. Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnson, in Wednesday’s pre-call comments, said Hulu had been fully integrated into Disney+, calling it a “major step forward” that will “create an impressive package of entertainment.”
