Disney is in the process of winding down Hulu’s standalone app and service. But at the same time, the Mouse House is doubling down on the Hulu brand — including taking it global.
As of Oct. 8, Hulu will become the global general entertainment brand on Disney+ in non-U.S. markets, replacing the Star tile. With the change, and in preparation for what Disney is promising will be a “fully integrated unified app experience” in 2026, Disney+ customers “will begin to see further integrations of Hulu across the Disney+ app as part of an ongoing and iterative slate of product updates on the homepage and beyond,” the company announced Thursday.
Swapping out Star with Hulu will help increase awareness outside the U.S. that Disney+ has a large catalog of content that appeals to adults, according to Disney — and it also means that its investment in marketing and social efforts behind Hulu will now be applied worldwide.
According to Disney, the Star-to-Hulu rebranding isn’t just about a brand-tile switchover: The company says it is also making it even easier to discover Hulu content and more on Disney+.
Disney+ over the next few weeks will introduce “a more visual home screen,” as well as more intuitive navigation and more personalized recommendations. “These enhancements are just the beginning, with additional updates planned in the lead-up to the launch of a unified app experience next year,” Disney said.
The changes come after Disney completed the full acquisition of Hulu in a deal with Comcast this June. In 2026, Disney expects to shut down Hulu as a standalone app and service and fully merge Hulu into Disney+. According to Disney, in the U.S. you will still be able to purchase Disney+ and Hulu as standalone plans.
In the U.S., Disney has set price hikes that will take effect Oct. 21 for most of its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN plans and bundles. For example, the standalone Disney+ with ads tier is rising from $9.99 to $11.99/month while the Disney+ Premium (without ads) is going from $15.99 to $18.99/month. The Hulu standalone plan with ads is increasing from $9.99 to $11.99/month as of the same date; the premium version of Hulu with no ads will remain at $18.99 per month.
Disney released an animation showing the new Disney+ UI with Hulu in action:
