Disney Plus And Hulu Are Removing Tons Of Content

Disney is shedding titles from Disney Plus and Hulu streaming service, presumably to accomplish what Bob Iger described as “strategic changes”. After the release of the company’s quarterly report, the company reflected better earnings but disclosed continued loss of subscribers for their streaming services.

The company did, however, anticipate the downtrend in the number of subscribers and further reported that the measures they have been taking have allowed them to be better prepared for the loss. In fact, they even say that the actual loss they had was less than what they had anticipated.

Unlike Bob Chapek’s focus, which was boosting subscriber levels, Iger is aiming to divert the company’s focus to profitability and retention.

This may mean that they intend to keep the same amount of money coming in while cutting off added expenses that the company has been doing in the past.

The lengthy list of titles that will soon disappear under the streaming services Disney Plus and Hulu could likely be part of that aspect of their expenses that could be avoided. Identifying and removing titles that are just occupying a spot and keeping residual expenses but not performing in terms of actual viewership could be beneficial in the long run.

Disney Plus and Hulu will soon Remove a long list of titles

Deadline reports a long list of titles that will soon be removed from streaming for Disney Plus and Hulu. As early as May 26, which is just in less than a week, the following titles will be pulled from the streaming services:

For Disney Plus

Big Shot
Turner & Hooch
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
Willow
The Making Of Willow
Diary of a Future President
Just Beyond
The World According to Jeff Goldblum
Marvel’s Project Hero
The Right Stuff
The Real Right Stuff
Cheaper by the Dozen remake
The One and Only Ivan
Stargirl
Hollywood Stargirl
Flora & Ulysses
Artemis Fowl
The Princess
Encore!
Black Beauty
Clouds
America the Beautiful
Better Nate Than Ever
Weird But True!
Timmy Failure
Be Our Chef
Magic Camp
Earth to Ned
Foodtastic
Stuntman
Disney Fairy Tale Weddings
Wolfgang
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer
The Big Fib
Rogue Trip
More Than Robots
Shop Class
Pick the Litter
Own the Room
Among the Stars
Harmonious Live!
Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays

Disney Plus And Hulu Are Removing Tons Of Content

Credit: FX

For FX, Nat Geo, Hulu

Y: The Last Man
Pistol
Little Demon
Maggie
Dollface
The Hot Zone
The Premise
Love in the Time of Corona
Everything’s Trash
Best in Snow
Best in Dough
Darby and the Dead
The Quest
Rosaline
Life Below Zero: Next Generation
National Geographic Investigates: LSD and Psychedelics
9/11: One Day in America
The Armstrong Tapes
Buried Secrets of WWII
Bin Laden’s Hard Drive
Croc That Ate Jaws
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller
Drug Lords: The Next Generation
Extreme Rescues
Most Wanted Sharks
Locked Up Abroad
North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator
To Catch A Smuggler Rome
Ultimate Survival WWII

Leaving Hulu on May 31 are the following:

The Come Up
The Deep End
Everything’s Trash
Keep This Between Us

Disney Cleans Up Disney Plus and Hulu Streaming Library

Credit: Disney

While reactions online have people expressing disappointment on specific titles such as Willow, Pistol, and Dollface, as well as the selection from Nat Geo, it is interesting that some view this as a sort of decision for people to ‘miss’ the titles. Such that after a while, the company can include these titles again someday and generate better viewership data.

There are those who say that Disney is merely ‘rotating’ the available titles. A comment on the article cited the move as nothing new. D. H. posted:

Disney and other Hollywood Studios as well (Paramount, MGM etc …) have been pulling access and rotating movies and TV series for decades. IT’S NOTHING NEW. It’s just the same or similar policy being applied to a new form of content distribution.

He points out that these titles may be pulled, but eventually, they will have them available again someday. He continued:

Rest assured access to the material that was pulled will return at some point in the future – it’s just a matter of when. The entertainment industry has done this for years because they learned a long time ago that two much available content led to slower or lesser sales.

Why? Because too much choice is almost as bad as not enough choice.

However, there are also those who couldn’t wrap their mind around ‘original content’ that is intended exclusively for Disney Plus and/or Hulu that will be removed. They say that it would be disappointing for those who opt to subscribe who are under the impression that these titles will be there because they are original content.

Another comment pointed out that keeping titles in the streaming service incurs residual costs whether they are being viewed frequently or not. By removing the titles that aren’t performing, Disney will diminish the cost the streaming service spends. It means that the selection of titles is being curated according to subscribers’ preferences as well.

What do you make of these numerous cancellations of shows, series and direct-to-streaming movies for Disney Plus and/or Hulu? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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