Disney’s streaming business has grown significantly, but it’s showing cracks.
Although Disney has nearly doubled its streaming subscriber count in the last five years, its US viewership share has barely budged. Disney+ and Hulu make up 4.7% of viewing on US-based TVs, according to Nielsen.
That puts Disney’s streamers in a distant second behind Netflix (8.3% of total US TV viewing) among paid streaming services. Disney+ and Hulu’s watch time is also only slightly higher than its 4.4% mark in May 2021 and is below its peak of 5.6% in the summer of 2023.
Disney isn’t alone, as viewership growth for paid streamers has slowed. In contrast, free streaming services like YouTube, which is No. 1 with a 12.9% share, have been steadily growing their viewership on TV screens.
Growing engagement matters because it can help make subscribers less likely to cancel, media analyst and consultant Hernan Lopez told Business Insider. High viewership can also increase ad revenue and help avoid a wave of cancellations after price hikes.
The Mouse House has raised the price of Disney+ in each of the past five years. Disney’s ability to attract streaming subscribers despite higher prices — and a lack of growth in engagement — suggests that, for many, Disney remains a must-have. That’s a key milestone for paid streamers, said Brandon Katz of entertainment data provider Greenlight Analytics.
The glass-half-full view of Disney+ and Hulu is that they’ve consistently added customers and have become money-printing machines. Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment made $1.3 billion in operating income in its 2025 fiscal year, up from $143 million in the 12 months prior.
Still, Disney’s stagnant streaming viewership share may help explain why the company’s stock has risen just 3% over the past year, versus a nearly 17% gain for US stocks, as measured by the S&P 500.
Disney has a few ideas to boost streaming engagement.
The Mouse House is fully integrating Hulu into Disney+ in 2026 in hopes of building a super app where Hulu fans fall in love with Marvel and Star Wars, and vice versa. It’s adding some ESPN content to its flagship streamer to convince sports fans to subscribe to its bundles.
This one-stop shop approach is designed to make Disney+ “a portal to all things Disney,” CEO Bob Iger said on the company’s latest earnings call. He talked about incorporating AI and commerce features to make the streaming app “an engagement engine” to drive in-person visits to its theme parks and cruises.
Disney is also rolling the dice on AI-generated videos through a partnership with OpenAI. Starting next year, fans will be able to make short snippets of iconic Disney characters and view them in Disney+. Eventually, Disney wants fans to create clips within the Disney+ app.
Engaging younger audiences is central to the rationale of Disney’s OpenAI deal, which Iger said on CNBC gives the company an opportunity “to play a part in what is really a breathtaking, breathtaking growth” in AI.
Read the full article here
