Disney faces digital dilemma despite streaming success

Media empire must sustain its costly online push while its lucrative legacy businesses decline

2020 has hit the film and television industry hard. Although compensating for distribution through online streaming sites appears to be a partial solution, Disney execs including Bob Iger explain why streaming is not saving the day...

December 06, 2020

Anna Nicolaou writes:

The Walt Disney Company, in its 97th year, has decided its television future lies in streaming. But what happens to its past?

Disney Plus has been a knockout success, signing up more than 70m subscribers in its first year to cement the Mickey Mouse empire as a serious competitor to Netflix, whose boss Reed Hastings had expected its new rival to secure 20m customers “at best”.

As the group re-engineers itself around video streaming, giving up lucrative licensing revenue, it must also manage the decline of its ageing TV channels and movie studios. Taking the long view, Bob Iger, executive chairman and former chief executive, recently told friends that once-mighty channels such as Disney-owned ABC were “over”, and that Disney’s future was streaming and theme parks.

But unlike the lossmaking Disney Plus, these networks bring in billions of dollars a year.

The predicament has left Disney with an uneven strategy for TV channels such as the sports network ESPN and the entertainment networks that feed Hulu, the US-only streaming service Disney took majority control of last year. It also reveals that even for the world’s best-positioned traditional media company, the transition to streaming will be bumpy and financially uncertain.

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