Disney is in the process of reducing Hulu’s standalone apps and services as Hulu fully integrates Hulu with Disney+. But at the same time, Mouse House is doubling the Hulu brand.
As of October 8th, Hulu will become the global popular entertainment brand of non-US market Disney+, replacing Star Tile. The change will become a “fully integrated, integrated app experience” in 2026, in preparation for what Disney has promised. Disney+ customers said “full integrations of Hulu across the Disney+ app will be able to see further integrations of Hulu as part of a continuous and repetitive slate of its homepage and subsequent product updates,” the company announced Thursday.
Swapping stars with Hulu will help raise awareness that Disney+ has a large catalog of content that appeals to adults, according to Disney. It also means that Hulu’s investments in marketing and social media promotions will be applied worldwide.
According to Disney, the rebranding from Star to Hull isn’t just about brand tile switchovers. The company says it makes it even easier to discover Hulu content and more on Disney+.
Disney+ will introduce “more visual home screens” and more intuitive navigation and more personalized recommendations over the coming weeks. “These extensions are just the beginning, and additional updates are planned for the start of the Unified App Experience next year,” Disney said.
The change comes after Disney completed its full acquisition of Hulu in a deal with Comcast this June. In 2026, Disney is hoping to bring Hulu to Disney+ perfectly. According to Disney, in the US, Disney+ and Hulu can be purchased as standalone plans. At this point, Disney has not set a sunset date for the Hulu app.
This is a summary of the new features coming to Disney+ on TV devices.
A new navigation bar has been added to the top of the homepage. The new “For You” tab will be the first screen when a subscriber clicks Disney+. This will be “a new home base for recommended viewing.” Depending on your subscription, there are also tabs for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN. The main vertical navigation live hub takes viewers to the latest live news, sports, events and Disney+’s 24/7 streams. According to Disney, the Disney+ user interface features a “more modern design” that “focuses and centers the characters and story.” This includes a new video display in the top-level “Hero” carousel and a row of more dynamic brands, showing you the latest titles for each brand. Additionally, the Disney+ content set has been updated to showcase “more cinematic, poster-style artwork.” The UI adds new badge tags such as “season finale”, “new series”, “new movies” to show what’s unique and timely. Disney+ makes profiles more prominent throughout the UI. From there, users will find personal recommended titles based on their own viewing habits.
In addition to updating connected TV devices, Disney said it “has put a lot of thought into improving the mobile experience.” For example, the Disney+ iOS app is launching a widget. This will “add another entrance and let users directly into programming with just one click,” the company said.
In the US, Disney set a price increase that will take effect on October 21st with most of the Disney+, Hulu and ESPN plans and bundles. For example, standalone Disney+, ad-tier, has risen from $9.99 to $11.99 per month, while Disney+ Premium (no ads) is from $15.99 to $18.99/month. The Hulu Standalone plan with ADS has increased from $9.99 per month to $11.99 as of the same day. The ad-free Hulu premium version remains at $18.99 per month.
Disney has released an animation that shows the new Disney+ UI integrated into Hulu.
