Disney isn’t building a “super app” tying together all its businesses — at least not yet.
Adam Smith, the chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, told employees at a town hall last week that the company isn’t planning to turn Disney+ into a hub for buying tickets to parks and cruises.
“At the moment, I can definitively say there is nothing on the road map about bringing either cruises or the parks into this,” Smith said in the meeting, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider. Smith was responding to an employee-submitted question about making Disney+ a so-called super app.
Bloomberg reported last month that Disney was exploring turning its flagship streaming service into “the first stop for all things Disney” where fans could buy park tickets, merchandise, and play games in between streaming shows, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Bloomberg report added that conversations about creating this potential app were “at an early stage and no concrete steps have been taken toward developing the product.”
Smith said companies “have seen ‘super apps’ work” in places like Asia, but added that the Mouse House is “a ways off from that.”
Instead, Smith said his priority is turning Disney+ into a one-stop shop for streaming by folding in Hulu.
“We really, really want to land this work with bringing Hulu over to Disney+ for our users and creating Disney+/Hulu as a fantastic spot,” Smith said.
Disney began adding select Hulu shows to Disney+ in late 2023 and announced last summer that it would fully integrate Hulu into its namesake streamer. The company has also combined the platforms’ ad servers.
Disney said last month that there were “no current plans to sunset” the Hulu app.
However, an internal document obtained by Business Insider suggested that the streamer’s days as a stand-alone service are numbered.
“The Hulu tech stack and app will be decommissioned after all users have transitioned” from that app into Disney+, the document said.
Disney’s plan to integrate Hulu into Disney+ is part of the “One Disney” initiative championed by CEO Josh D’Amaro, who said in his inaugural memo to staffers that aligning teams across the company is a priority for him.
Smith said the Hulu convergence project, which is known internally as “Project Gemini,” should “really reinforce Josh’s commitment to this cross-Disney work.”
Executives like D’Amaro and Smith are focused on how best to serve their die-hard fan base, the product and tech chief said.
“How do we break down the cultural barriers and work as One Disney to make sure that our fans and users are getting the best of Disney, wherever they show up?” Smith said.
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