Late to the streaming game, Disney leveraged its enormous cultural reach to become a key player in the streaming wars. But with platform subscriptions declining globally, it may now be forced to sell off considerable chunks of its wide ranging media assets.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 People talk about Disney in pretty
00:02 flattering terms.
00:03 I would say it's as or more
00:06 significant now than it's ever been
00:09 in its history, which is a big call
00:11 if you think about what Walt Disney
00:13 Studios was.
00:14 But who would deny it?
00:16 Disney has spent its first hundred
00:17 years at the cutting edge of media,
00:19 even when Disney Plus came out years
00:22 after everyone else.
00:23 Some said it reinvented streaming.
00:26 You know, I can go to Disney Plus now
00:29 and watch Star Wars and Marvel.
00:31 That's pretty astonishing.
00:32 Some experts say they rejected
00:34 binge watching and would instead
00:36 release premium content a single
00:38 episode a week.
00:39 So what had Disney invented?
00:41 Well, television.
00:42 At first, it worked with Disney
00:44 becoming one of the major players.
00:46 But streaming isn't what it was.
00:48 With ads on platforms, subscription
00:51 costs rising, the consumers aren't
00:53 happy. But people don't want
00:55 television again, do they?
00:57 I don't watch anything 3D air.
00:59 But I subscribe to everything.
01:00 Streaming enables you to
01:03 align your entertainment
01:05 almost as a kind of perpetual
01:08 playing in your life.
01:10 The reality is streaming services
01:12 now have more viewers than television.
01:14 Earlier this year in the US, streaming
01:17 made up a record thirty eight point
01:18 seven percent of all content consumed
01:21 on any platform.
01:22 But if you look at that closely,
01:24 Disney Plus makes up just two percent.
01:26 Disney Plus is hemorrhaging
01:28 subscribers.
01:29 Then there's the other part of the
01:31 chart, television, where Disney
01:33 owns huge amounts of TV channels.
01:35 I would say that in some cases, the
01:37 challenges are greater than I had
01:40 anticipated.
01:41 That's Bob Iger, Disney's CEO.
01:43 He thinks Disney could sell all of
01:45 its TV assets within the next
01:47 two years.
01:49 The disruption of the traditional
01:51 television business probably is the
01:53 most notable.
01:54 If anything, I'd say that the
01:57 disruption of that business has
01:58 happened to a greater
02:01 extent than even I was aware.
02:02 That's not just in the US with all
02:04 their affiliates like ABC,
02:06 ESPN and National Geographic.
02:08 But Disney's the biggest broadcaster
02:10 of television in India and has
02:12 TV broadcasting under their name
02:14 across the world.
02:16 Disney's share price is reflecting
02:19 the anxiety.
02:20 This is it in twenty twenty one when
02:22 everyone was stuck at home watching
02:23 TV.
02:24 This is October twenty twenty three.
02:26 With some people asking if Disney
02:28 now needs to be broken up to save
02:30 itself.
02:31 But what is Disney without
02:33 television?
02:34 Will it go back to animations like
02:35 its first 100 years or lean
02:38 into its new high performing money
02:39 earners like cruise liners, amusement
02:42 parks and now sports betting?
02:44 Disney is a hyper capitalist
02:46 organisation.
02:47 It will look to intensify, I think,
02:49 its revenues, protect
02:52 its brand and produce
02:54 content that
02:56 just gets the most money.
02:57 And
02:59 that's it.
03:00 (dramatic music)