Disney realigns streaming leadership as Hulu integration reaches product and tech

The consolidation of technical leadership under Smith and Rohe signals Disney’s shift from raw subscriber acquisition to infrastructure-led profitability. By unifying the tech stacks of Disney+ and Hulu, the company aims to reduce operational redundancy and leverage first-party data for its emerging AI ad products. While Disney recently achieved its highest TV viewership share in three years, it remains in a defensive posture against Netflix’s dominance. The new organizational structure is designed to bridge this gap through engineering efficiencies, specifically targeting lower churn and higher average revenue per user (ARPU) via more effective ad-server integration. Tracking the efficacy of these AI ad tools will be the primary signal for its near-term margin expansion.

The technical consolidation follows Disney’s August 2025 announcement that it would fully integrate Hulu into Disney+ to create a unified app experience by 2026. Per Variety (August 2025), CEO Bob Iger stated the transition to a single tech platform was essential for achieving cost synergies and improving consumer retention. This migration involves complex backend alignment; per WhatsOnDisneyPlus (May 2026), the company recently began linking user profiles, watch histories, and recommendation engines across both services, a precursor to eventually phasing out the standalone Hulu application.

Leadership stability has been a priority during this transition. Adam Smith joined in late 2024 from YouTube, while Andre Rohe arrived in January 2025 from Meta to oversee the unified product engineering group. Per The Hollywood Reporter (January 2025), Rohe’s group was formed to bring together commerce, growth, and identity engineering—functions that were previously siloed across Disney’s various streaming brands. This team is also tasked with supporting the digital-native launch of 'ESPN Flagship' in late 2026, which is expected to integrate betting and interactive features directly into the primary streaming interface.

Technological innovation remains focused on the high-margin advertising business. In January 2026, Disney held its annual 'Tech + Data Showcase' where it introduced the 'Disney Ads Agent.' Per The Current (January 2026), this agentic AI tool is designed to automate media planning and allow smaller brands to generate professional-quality TV spots from existing assets. These upgrades aim to monetize the 157 million monthly active users on Disney’s ad-supported tiers, a figure first disclosed at CES in early 2025 according to company data.