Disney sets date for ESPN tile to be added to Disney+

Disney will add an ESPN Tile to Disney+ on December 4, giving subscribers of the “trio” streaming bundle access to ESPN+ content while on Disney+.

The move, announced by the company last spring, follows a similar initiative with Hulu earlier this year. It precedes the arrival of ESPN’s flagship streaming service, which will include the full suite of live programming from all ESPN networks. The expected launch date remains early fall 2025.

While subscribers of the “trio” package that combines Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ will get the most benefit from the tile addition, Disney says it plans to make “select” ESPN programming available to all Disney+ subscribers.

CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston revealed the date of the ESPN tile addition in their executive commentary on the company’s fiscal fourth quarter. Earlier this morning, Disney announced its quarterly numbers, with Disney+ adding 4.4 million new core subscribers from the previous quarter, surpassing 120 million. The streaming service was launched almost five years ago, on November 19, 2019.

The flagship experience within the ESPN app, Iger and Johnson said, will offer viewers “an extensive range of innovative digital features, creating a sports destination unlike anything currently available on the market.”

The goal of the flagship rollout will be to reduce churn and increase engagement, opening up new advertising opportunities. On the advertising front, executives said more than half of Disney+’s new subscribers will come through the ad-supported tier, which launched in December 2022.

Iger and Johnston said the addition of Hulu and ESPN Tiles represents an effort to curate “the ultimate collection of high-quality content for every member of the household” on Disney+. As much as it has grown globally in the five years since its debut, Disney+ has historically been limited by limited programming and the fact that some viewers only visit occasionally, as reflected in Nielsen’s monthly Gauge reports. Normally, Disney+ accounts for about a third of Netflix’s viewing volume via a TV set, and also lags behind Amazon Prime Video.