There is still time to sign up for one of the best streaming deals of the season: the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle, which you can have for $4.99 a month over 12 months, or 38% off its regular price. The deal involves the Duo Basic package, and it’s a time-sensitive offer made for prompt decision-makers.
What the Disney+ and Hulu Duo Basic deal includes
The deal packages Disney+ and Hulu in their ad-supported levels for just under $60 for the entire year. Billing returns to the standard monthly price at the conclusion of the 12-month promotional period unless you cancel. The discount reduces the cost of the bundle to less than what a single major streaming service would normally cost and cuts more than in half the number many households pay for two separate plans.
- What the Disney+ and Hulu Duo Basic deal includes
- Eligibility and fine print for new and returning users
- Why this Disney+ and Hulu bundle is a strong value
- What you lose with ads on Disney+ and Hulu tiers
- Programming highlights to consider on Disney+ and Hulu
- How to make the most of the savings with this bundle
- Bottom line: should you get the Disney+ and Hulu bundle?
For its part, content-wise, Disney+ runs all the marquee franchises — Marvel and Star Wars, along with Pixar and a huge library of family films (animated classics) and National Geographic documentaries. What can you watch on Hulu? Hulu’s offerings tend to be more noteworthy. For households with differing tastes, the lineup ticks just about every box.
Eligibility and fine print for new and returning users
As with many holiday streaming offers, this one is aimed at new and eligible returning customers. Most existing Disney bundle subscribers will not be eligible. If you’re billed through a third party — including the app stores, cable services and wireless carriers that use them to offer the bundle as an add-on — you may have to switch to signing up directly through Disney for now in order to redeem this offer. The price is guaranteed for 12 months, though you can cancel anytime; if you like to check back in before renewal, slap a calendar reminder to do so.
Why this Disney+ and Hulu bundle is a strong value
Boosted by the funds flowing into streaming from traditional TV, prices have inched up across the industry, which makes a package like this — below $5 — an anomaly and unusually aggressive. A discount at the right time can help reduce churn, analyst firms such as MoffettNathanson have observed, and this one is coming just when viewers are shopping for value. Market research at Antenna has long shown that subscriber spikes are some of the largest on key holidays.
Hulu still punches well above its weight in total viewing time and, with a low single-digit share of TV usage, perennially lands among the top 5 streamers tracked by Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rating report, The Gauge. Disney+ is still a repository for tentpole releases and evergreen kids’ programming, content that can maintain engagement (and help rationalize locking people in at a cutthroat rate, even if it’s just for the year).
What you lose with ads on Disney+ and Hulu tiers
Each of the services in the Duo Basic plan has commercials. Ad-supported tiers do not allow for offline downloads; so if you want to download content for travel, you’ll be best served by plans that are ad-free. Some of its key features, such as select profiles and parental controls on Disney+, are still available. The number of simultaneous streams is generally generous for most households — four allowed for Disney+, and two for Hulu on the standard plan, for instance.
Programming highlights to consider on Disney+ and Hulu
For Disney+, that means a mix of Marvel series, Star Wars originals, Pixar films and depth-of-franchise libraries (The Simpsons resides within the broader content umbrella of its corporate parent, Disney) is the key attraction. There has been a quiet strength in music and cultural documentaries too, dovetailing with the blockbuster slate.
Hulu offers the other side of that equation: acclaimed series such as The Bear and Only Murders in the Building, FX-on-Hulu exclusives, documentaries (Billy Miller: When I Was 16), true crime stories and day-after network TV to help you stay up-to-date without a cable bill. The package essentially fills the need for appointment viewing, family nights and background comfort-bingeing all at once.
How to make the most of the savings with this bundle
Activate the deal on the account you intend to keep for the full 12 months; otherwise, you will lose the locked-in pricing. If you want only one of the services at a time, think about shifting focus — watching Hulu’s current-season TV and reality runs first, perhaps, followed by binging on Disney’s marquee releases later — and don’t give up on the bundle because its monthly cost is what makes it really pale in comparison.
Families should create profiles from the get-go to easily calibrate recommendations. Sports fans can add ESPN+ at a later time, if necessary, but for many viewers the Duo Basic bundle will be enough. Stay on the lookout for midyear originals: Big droppers also tend to gang around franchise premieres and their own award-season potentials.
Bottom line: should you get the Disney+ and Hulu bundle?
Slashed to a mere $4.99 monthly for a full year, the Disney+ and Hulu Duo Basic bundle is one of the very few streaming deals that cuts deep into the market.
It’s a relatively simple way to still get blockbuster franchises, family viewing and prestige TV all in one place — for a drive-you-crazy price. If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to re-subscribe or try out the bundle, this is it, for as long as it lasts.
