Less than two hours after Walt Disney Co., CEO Bob Chapek said he’d like to exercise his right to buy out Comcast’s 33% stake in SVOD pioneer Hulu sooner rather than later, Comcast chief Brian Roberts said he’d buy the streamer outright if it were available.
The chief executive also says the entertainment giant would be interested in doing so ahead of its 2024 contractual deadline.
During the Aug. 1 – Aug. 7 viewing window, Disney’s Lightyear soared to the No. 3 place on the Nielsen streaming programs chart, raking in 1.3 billion minutes viewed after its premiere on Disney+. The Toy Story spinoff scored No. 1 on the movies list, leading Netflix’s Uncharted, which premiered on Aug. 5 to 1 billion minutes watched.
Three executives at Disney General Entertainment (DGE) have received expanded leadership roles. The changes include the promotions of Erwich to president, ABC Entertainment, Hulu & Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals; Ryan to president, Marketing, Disney General Entertainment; and Schrier to the role of president, Disney Television Studios & Business Operations, Disney General Entertainment.
The entertainment giant looks to package streaming, parks and merchandise offerings together; aims to add commerce feature to Disney+.
Exclusives
Netflix and Disney hope a lower price point will convince all of those recent grads, grandparents, old boyfriends, etc. who are still on someone else’s plan to sign up for one of their own. That’s going to be a tough sell.
Third Point, an investment firm run by Daniel Loeb, has taken a new stake in The Walt Disney Co. and is urging the company’s CEO to make a wave of changes, including spinning off ESPN and combining Hulu and the Disney+ streaming service. In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Loeb, whose stake in Disney is reportedly worth about $1 billion, also wants The Mouse to expand its board of directors. Spinning off sports TV giant ESPN would give the unit “greater flexibility” and enable it “to pursue business initiatives that may be more difficult as part of Disney, such as sports betting,” Loeb said.
Streamers such as Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery focus less on adding users at any costs and more on boosting profit.
The retail giant is exploring bundling a streaming service into its Walmart+ membership program.
New subscriptions to Hulu have outpaced those of the company’s flagship streaming platform in 18 of the past 24 months.
Starting this week and running through Aug. 30, eligible Uber Eats customers in the United States can receive two months of the Disney Bundle — which includes streaming subscriptions for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — for free. Additionally, eligible Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. can redeem six complimentary months of Uber One plus a $25 credit on their first Uber Eats order, available through Sept. 17.
There were constant reminders of the diminished influence of broadcast television networks this past week, when entertainment companies Paramount, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal and Fox hawked their upcoming wares to advertisers in flashy New York presentations. None was more glaring than the fact that Craig Erwich and Kelly Kahl, chiefs of the ABC and CBS entertainment divisions, watched from the sidelines. (Image: Associated Press)
A new “Daredevil” series is moving forward at Disney+. Matt Corman and Chris Ord are attached to write and executive produce.
Walt Disney Co. is taking a less-is-more approach to selling commercials on its Disney+ streaming service. Disney+ will carry about four minutes of commercials an hour on the ad-supported version of the platform set to launch later this year, company officials said.
NBCUniversal communications vet Katherine Nelson has joined Disney Branded Television in the newly-created role of vice president of corporate communications. In this position, Nelson will be responsible for overall communications strategy in support of the organization’s business and executive team as they ramp up the volume of programming that they create, produce and market for Disney+ and linear networks Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior.
Disney+ subscribers binging series from the streamer’s library on Monday discovered that a number of episodes were not available. Affected titles are said to include Duck Tales, Agent Carter, X-Men, Lizzie McGuire, Owl House and Rocket & Groot.
Executives at the top streaming services, chasing ever bigger subscription numbers, are having a change of heart about commercials.
The Disney+ film Turning Red took the No.1 spot on both the Top 10 Streaming Programs and Top 10 Streaming Movies charts with 1.7 billion viewing minutes, according to Nielsen’s Weekly Streaming Top 10 report for the week of March 14. The coming-of-age animated film was only down 2% in viewing from the previous week. The Adam Project came in at No. 2 with 1.34 billion minutes, edging out The Last Kingdom with 1.32 billion viewing minutes.
The series, which debuted on ABC in 2005, will jump to Disney+ in the fall. The move comes in conjunction with a two-season renewal that will take DWTS through a 32nd cycle. The switch was prompted in part by ABC’s plans to simulcast several games on ESPN’s Monday Night Football slate in the fall. The broadcaster will also have an exclusive Monday Night Football contest at some point in the NFL season. Dancing With the Stars will also become the first live series on Disney+.
The streamer announced the news on Friday, noting it would launch in late 2022. Price and exact launch date will be announced later in the year.
Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated West Side Story will makes its streaming debut on Disney+ in the U.S. and most international countries on March 2, the streamer announced today. In addition, an ABC one-hour special called Something’s Coming: West Side Story – A Special Edition of 20/20 is available to stream on Disney+ now.
An episode that references the Tiananmen Square massacre is left out of the recently launched Disney+ streaming lineup.
Disney next year will spend nearly twice as much on content as Netflix did in 2021.
Disney and Netflix are very different companies, with very different investor bases, but they’re head-to-head competitors in the streaming wars. And on Friday, Netflix’s market valuation climbed above Disney’s for the first time in about a year — ironically, coming on “Disney Plus Day,” the Mouse House’s company-wide marketing event designed to punch up excitement and subscriber signups for the streamer.
The Walt Disney Co. has enlisted just about every part of the company for Disney Plus Day — which is actually a weeklong series of promotions, events and content premieres. It’s ultimately aimed, of course, at driving up paying subscribers for the global streaming service. Among the deals: Starting today (Nov. 8) through Sunday, Nov. 14, new and eligible returning Disney+ subscribers can get one month of the service for $1.99 (available in the U.S. and select countries). After the first month, the service goes back to the regular price ($7.99/month in the U.S.).
MoffettNathanson says bundling Disney+, Hulu could attract older viewers, while Barclays points to more and better content
Walt Disney’s stock received a rare Wall Street downgrade on Monday, as Barclays called for bold changes from the media giant to reverse slowing growth at its Disney+ streaming service.
Disney+ will surpass Netflix in global subscriptions in 2025, forecasts the latest subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) update from Digital TV Research. The report projects that Disney+ will add 140 million subscription subscribers between 2021 and 2026, to bring its total to 284 million. Netflix is forecast to add 53 million subs, to reach 271 million by 2026.
