The Hulu Effect on Disney+
Earlier this year, Bob Iger’s decade-long plan came to fruition.
In 2016, Iger decided that licensing Disney content to Netflix was like “selling nuclear weapons” to the enemy.
Photo: Getty
The CEO of The Walt Disney Company evaluated the board and came up with twin solutions.
First, he plotted the creation of Disney+, a streaming service composed exclusively of Disney content.
Then, Disney’s big boss identified assets he could use to boost Disney’s content library.
Disney acquired most Fox assets, including a film studio and its library, and another streaming service.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Now, that service, Hulu, has officially become a part of the Disney+ app.
In the process, something unexpected has happened. Let’s discuss the Hulu Effect on Disney+.
The Disney Streaming Strategy
Hulu
As of October, the Star tile no longer exists internationally. Disney has replaced it with Hulu.
With that one move and the impending collapse of the Hulu standalone app, Iger’s plan has ended.
(Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Now, he has solved Disney’s worst problem: the erosion of linear television.
Iger did that by creating and populating a streaming app with enough content to charge a fortune.
(Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Oh, by the way, Disney just increased the price of Disney+ and the Disney Bundle yet again.
None of that could have been possible with the Fox assets and Hulu, and that’s today’s topic.
Photo: Fox
We’ll start with a smaller part of the conversation, a story I’ve missed lately.
While working on a side project, I missed several weeks of Nielsen Streaming Ratings, for which I apologize.
Walt Disney Company
Honestly, you didn’t miss much, though, as it’s been a sleepy month for Disney content…or has it?
Let’s Talk Aliens
Alien: Earth
The big story over the past month was the arrival of Alien: Earth on streaming.
Hey, that’s a Fox property! And Disney aired the content on…Hulu. See what they did there?
Photo: Wikimedia
Disney monetized two different Fox assets to strengthen the core of Disney+.
That’s where most people watch Hulu these days, which is all part of Iger’s grand design.
FX’s Alien: Earth — “Mr. October” — Season 1, Episode 2 (Airs Tues, August 12) — Pictured: Sydney Chandler as Wendy. CR: Patrick Brown/FX
The plan worked perfectly with the release of Alien: Earth.
Here are the show’s Nielsen streaming ratings for the past month:
- 464 million viewer minutes
- 337 million viewer minutes
- 326 million viewer minutes
- 366 million viewer minutes
Alien: Earth
On first blush, it may look like the show dropped in viewership after the first week.
That’s not the case, as the larger number reflects that Alien: Earth debuted with two episodes.
Alien: Earth
The Hulu show got everyone hooked – especially my wife – and then held and grew the audience.
Director Noah Hawley, the genius behind Fargo, crafted a masterful first season full of intrigue.
Alien: Earth
Disney hasn’t renewed Alien: Earth yet, but I suspect that’s just a formality.
According to Hawley, the two parties are negotiating future budgets and production timeframes.
EXECUTIVE PORTRAIT – Dana Walden, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company. (Disney/Maarten de Boer)
Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden has mastered the art of growing shows like this one.
Walden’s special skill involves taking high-quality programming and expanding viewership in later seasons.
Holywood Reporter PHOTOGRAPHED BY DIANA KING
Alien: Earth appears likely to follow that model, and it’s an all-around win for Disney…and Iger.
The show technically streams on Hulu, but most people watch it on Disney+. That change comes at a cost, though. Let’s discuss the Hulu Effect.
What’s the Hulu Effect?
(Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Heading into this summer, Disney’s streaming performance on Nielsen was the stuff of myth and legend.
Disney+ and Hulu punched above their weight class, often competing with Netflix for top ratings.
Photo: English Jargon
That statement hasn’t rang true over the past month, as I can show with a few charts.
Not counting Alien: Earth, here are Disney’s streaming hits for the week of August 11th-17th, 2025:
Photo: Disney+
- Bluey – 869 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 783 million viewer minutes
- King of the Hill – 714 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 660 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 595 million viewer minutes
Photo: simplemost.com
Here are the ratings for August 18th-August 24th, 2025:
- Grey’s Anatomy – 801 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 795 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 607 million viewer minutes
- King of the Hill – 567 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 566 million viewer minutes
Fox
Then, we have the streaming ratings for August 25th-August 31st, 2025:
- Bluey – 859 million viewer minutes
- Thunderbolts* — 702 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 650 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 608 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 584 million viewer minutes
- King of the Hill – 424 million viewer minutes
Fox
Finally, here’s the most recent set of ratings for September 1st-September 7th, 2025:
- Bluey – 845 million viewer minutes
- Lilo & Stitch – 803 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 642 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 578 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 565 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 563 million viewer minutes
- Thunderbolts* — 368 million viewer minutes
Photo: Marvel
That’s a metric ton of data, and I’ll explain a couple of the stories more next week.
For now, what you should notice is what’s missing: content catalog Disney movies.
The Impact of Hulu
NPR
Longtime readers of this article know that Disney movies run like clockwork as streaming content.
People watch and rewatch Moana, Moana 2, Frozen, Frozen II, and Avengers: Endgame.
Disney+ logo
Well, they used to do that. Lately, we haven’t noticed the phenomenon as often.
Hulu’s the reason why. Now that Disney has fully integrated the app, guests enjoy more choices.
Photo: Newsweek
Between that and the introduction of the 24/7 streams on Disney+, people have more choices now.
So, they’re watching less of the previous conventional choices, especially Disney films.
Photo: Marvel
The only titles that made the ratings chart over the past month were 2025 releases: Thunderbolts* and Lilo & Stitch.
Notably, Lilo & Stitch, the number one movie of 2025 (other than a Chinese blockbuster), underachieved in week one.
Photo: Disney
Ordinarily, I’d expect a total of at least a billion and usually even 1.5 billion. That didn’t happen here.
Media consumption has evolved on Disney+, with people watching other content rather than Disney films.
Wall Street Journal
We know this because it was a terrible month for the Nielsen Streaming Movies chart.
Historically, I call a week bad if the tenth ranked film earns less than 200 million viewer minutes.
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
During one of these weeks, the tenth ranked film stumbled in at 115 million!
Moana should have no problem beating that…and wouldn’t have before the arrival of Hulu on Disney+.
Photo: Disney
So, this new Hulu Effect is readily apparent and a fascinating demonstration of Iger’s vision.
He anticipated that Disney+ subscribers would want content beyond the classic Disney library.
Walt Disney Company
We’ve officially reached that point with the Disney Bundle.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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