UPDATED: September 9th, 2021
Despite utilizing the National Geographic in all its marketing and including a National Geographic brand tile at the top of Disney+, there are still a surprising amount of National Geographic films, series, and specials streaming exclusively on Hulu.
Some of these are there because of pre-existing contracts. A few are streaming on Hulu due to Disney+’s awful cap on maturity ratings, limiting titles to TV-14 or PG-13. Others were newly added in 2021 for baffling reasons – possibly a puritanical obsession with keeping Disney+ “brand” preschool-friendly in America while internationally subscribers receive the full library, including Rated R and TV-MA titles.
This list will share the identity of all titles still on Hulu as of July 17th, 2021 and also include the month titles that are eligible for Disney+ were added, updated, or renewed. Knowing that month can help predict when titles will expire and leave Hulu as most licensing lasts an exact amount of years. It also shows how Disney continues to add titles to Hulu after launching Disney+.
Here are some interesting takeaways:
- No titles added to the service were added prior to 2019 unless they are a multiple season series. This suggests the contracts are 2-3 years at most. For multi-season shows, the general rule for licensing is they remain on same service for a certain amount of years after the show is over forever.
- Only 2 of the titles streaming are TV-MA and 1 is Rated R. This means the other 36 should be on Disney+.
- 2 titles are streaming simultaneously on Disney+.
- A considerable amount of these titles were added in August 2019 – hopefully they will expire August 2021.
- Disney is still choosing to “renew” some of these even when they come up for expiration which suggests poor decision-making. It’s depressing to have to inform you – Hulu has more Nat Geo titles now than they did when Disney+ launched. It appears Disney doesn’t take their brand tile or promises of everything in one place seriously.
- A handful of SharkFest titles remain exclusive to Hulu even as Disney+ poured many into Disney+ this year. Hopefully when they expire they make the move…
- Disney added or updated 9 titles in 2021 so far… 9 too many. None of those 9 were Rated R or TV-MA.
- 15 titles were added or last updated in 2019
- 15 titles were added or last updated in 2020
- Yet another title is arriving to Hulu in the next couple months – 9/11: One Day in America (2021). Again – it’s unreal how restrictive Disney+ topics are that they allow Nat Geo to cover.
NAT GEO
TV- MA
- 9/11 One Day in America (2021)
- Activate: The Global Citizen Movement (2019)
- Barkskins (2020) (Season 1)
Rated R
4. LA 92 (2017) (Renewed May 2021)
January 2021
1. To Catch a Smuggler (2020) (Season 2)
2. Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (2021) (Season 1)
February 2019
3. Dead by Dawn (2019) (Season 1)
February 2020
4. The Cave (2019)
5. Locked Up Abroad (2006) (Season 11 Episodes Added Next Day, Season 10 is also streaming)
6. Sea of Shadows (2019)
February 2021
7. The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream (2021)
8. North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator (2021)
March 2019
9. Legendary Catch (2019) (Season 1)
10. Puppies vs the World (2017)
March 2020
11. Extreme Rescues (2020) (Season 1)
March 2021
12. Genius (2017) (Season 3) [Moving to Disney+ for Season 4 January 2022. Will previous seasons move?]
April 2019
13. Superstructures: Engineering Marvels (2019) (Season 1)
May 2021
14. Narco Wars (2020) (Season 2)
June 2020
15. Drug Lords: The Next Generation (2020) (Season 1)
June 2021
16. Blood on the Wall (2020)
17. Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer (2021)
July 2020
18. The Boonies (2016) (Season 1) (Renewed July 2020)
19. Underworld Inc (2015) (Seasons 1-2) (Renewed July 2020)
20. Drugs Inc (2010) (Seasons 6-7) (Renewed July 2020)
21. When Sharks Attack (Seasons 1-6) (Renewed July 2020)
August 2019
22. The Armstrong Tapes (2019)
23. Apollo Back to the Moon (2019)
24. Hitler’s Last Stand (2018) (Season 1)
25. Cannibal Sharks (2019) [Sharkfest 2019]
26. Great Shark Chow Down (2019) [Sharkfest 2019] [Streaming simultaneously on Disney+]
27. Forecast Shark Attack (2019) [Sharkfest 2019]
28. Shark Movers (2019) [Sharkfest 2019]
August 2020
29. Nazi Megastructures (2013) (Season 4 and Season 7)
August 2021
30. Texas: Spirit and Soul (2021) – WTF? A TV-PG documentary in 2021?!
September 2019
31. Buried Secrets of WW2 (Season 1) (2019)
September 2020
32. Bin Laden’s Hard Drive (2020)
33. Pop Goes the Vet (2020) (Season 1)
October 2019
34. Ultimate Survival WW2 (Season 1) (2019)
35. Snake City (2015) (Season 6)
October 2020
36. City So Real (2020) (Season 1)
December 2020
37. Rebuilding Paradise (2020)
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
