Disney+ Hulu Video Podcasts Are Doubling

Your next favorite podcast might live inside your streaming app. The Disney+ Hulu video podcasts library is about to double in size, according to an announcement from Disney this week, and the timing lines up with spooky season. The official American Horror Story podcast starts streaming on Hulu today, September 24, the same day the show's thirteenth season kicks off with a three-episode premiere. For a generation that already watches podcasts on a TV screen, the line between streaming and listening just got a little thinner.

The bet is already paying off

Disney+ and Hulu got into video podcasts a little over a year ago, starting with companion shows for Only Murders in the Building, Dancing with the Stars, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Murdaugh: Death in the Family. The pitch was simple. As Disney put it in its announcement, the question was what if your favorite show did not have to end when the episode did. Early numbers suggest the idea stuck. Ninety percent of the viewers who streamed the Tell Me Lies companion podcast also watched every episode of season three, according to Disney, which calls that proof the podcast became part of the viewing experience itself.

The library has since grown well past companion shows into licensed rewatch podcasts, comedy, true crime, news, and sports. Two new Headgum shows are premiering this week and will stream exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu before they reach other platforms. Best Friends pairs comedians Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata for a weekly hangout built on a real friendship, while Perfect Person has Miles Bonsignore talking through listener dilemmas with more empathy than authority. ABC News is also in the mix with its first original video podcast, The Scream Murder: A True Teen Horror Story Podcast, a six-part series hosted by Pat Rogers and Conor McCarthy that revisits the killing of Idaho teenager Cassie Stoddart with new, never-before-seen material, according to Disney.

What is landing next

The next few weeks are packed. FX's American Horror Story Official Podcast lands on Hulu today, right as season thirteen begins. On October 1, Hulu adds Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach Braff and Donald Faison, the long-running Scrubs rewatch show, along with a Halloweentown episode of the Disney+ Hulu Throwbacks Podcast that leans into Halloween nostalgia. Desperately Devoted follows on November 2. Taken together, the new arrivals show the Disney+ Hulu video podcasts slate growing from companion extras into a lineup of its own. As Laughing Place reported, the Throwbacks podcast debuted in August with episodes looking back at classic Disney Channel films.

The biggest launch so far came from a galaxy far, far away. The Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Official Podcast is the number one podcast launch to date across Disney+ and Hulu, based on first-week global views, according to Disney. The show was filmed on the Adelphi Base Bar set from the movie, with filmmaker Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni hosting. Guests include Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, and composer Ludwig Goransson, with an appearance from Grogu himself, according to SuperHeroHype's coverage of the launch.

The rest of the leaderboard says something about who is actually watching. Hulu Original Paradise, FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, and the Disney+ Original Percy Jackson and the Olympians rank among the most-viewed companion podcasts, and the Dancing with the Stars Official Podcast sits in the top tier as well, according to Disney.

Why your TV wants your podcasts

The Disney+ Hulu video podcasts expansion is part of a bigger land grab. Disney is not the only platform treating video podcasts like premium TV. YouTube is reportedly offering creators millions for exclusive video episodes in a bidding war with Netflix, as GenZ NewZ reported earlier this month. NPR is launching Machine Gods, a video-first AI show from former Hard Fork hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. And the money keeps following the audience: podcast ad spending jumped again in August, according to Magellan AI data covered by GenZ NewZ.

For subscribers, the takeaway is simple. If you already pay for Disney+ or Hulu, there is a growing podcast library sitting next to your watchlist, and it is built to keep your favorite shows alive between episodes. With American Horror Story setting the tone today and a Scrubs rewatch arriving October 1, the couch is becoming a perfectly reasonable place to catch up on your listening. The Hulu video podcasts experiment started as a bonus feature. It is quickly becoming a reason to subscribe.