Disney + Announcements is an ‘earth-shaking’ development in streaming wars

12/11/2020 Business


In the first ten days of December, Discovery unveiled its streaming service; Warner Bros. said all of its 2021 films will be released on HBO Max and in theaters at the same time; And Disney announced 100 new projects, most of them leading directly to streaming services.

Three years from today, we will still talk about content and its consequences.

Resistance to streaming change is significant, but the strategic requirements of large media companies are more serious. Thus, on Disney’s Investor’s Day on Thursday, observers were blown away by the sheer volume of content announcements, just as they were stunned by WarnerMedia’s move last week.

“The fact is, we’re just getting started,” Disney executive chairman Bob Eger said with a smile at the end of Disney’s presentation.

Which raises a question: If you have a connection to the media business, what will be your streaming strategy in one or three years from now? I say three years because Disney is already plotting what it will release for the 2023 holiday season …

“Earthquake”

During the Disney Investor event, digital media guru Matthew Ball Ley tweeted that “this looks like a true unveiling of Disney + versus April 2019, TBH” (frankly).

And Ball Lay said to me later, “If you’re a competitor, this earth is shaking.”

That’s because Disney CEO Bob Chappeck has so far shown everything as a beta launch. “Disney + has exceeded our highest expectations” and quadrupled the streaming service on Thursday …

Disney’s Streaming Kingdom

Frank Palota Writes: “According to the company, Disney now has one million 86 million subscribers. So it is raising its estimates by Leaps and Bounds. 60 million to 90 million last year. “

>> MORE: U.S. The monthly service fee will increase from 1 1 to 99 7.99 in March …

Obi-Wan, She-Hulk and Pinocchio

Frank Palotta writes: “Disney spent four hours better than announcing the latest content from one of its biggest brands. There was a new ‘Star Wars’ Disney + series featuring ‘M Mandal Ndorian’ spin-off, starring Ahoska Tan; a live-action starring Tom Hanks ‘Pinocchio’; and many of the coolest companies in the Marvel series have also hedged their claim with its theatrical release that Disney animation’s ‘Raiya and the Last Dragon’ is moving to Disney + while Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ is still going to theaters in May. . “

>> Steven Zichik of Vapo tweeted: “Disney’s guiding philosophy seems to be that ‘let us take every property in our catalog and create a prequel, sequel, reboot, new tech, feature, limited series, hybrid CG-live-sci-cyan sign-fi mu. Comedy melodrama and then let’s see who is winning the streaming wars, Netflix. “

Some highlights

Until I go until 2am ET, there is no way to accommodate all the programming news. Let me just flag six highlights …

– “Disney unveils new ‘Star Wars’ projects,” Brooks Barnes of NYT wrote, “which includes 10 television shows – two of which will be ‘Mendelssohn’ spin-offs, the other will follow C-3 PO and R2-D2 – – And Rog Squadron, a new theatrical film directed by Patty Jenkins. Jenkins will be the first female filmmaker in the 43-year history of the Star Wars franchise …

– li Liver is especially jazzy about Darcy This “Star Wars” News: “Hayden Christensen returns to Orth-van Canoby … ‘with Evan McCagregor, returns as Darth Vader.”
– Pixar creates many new animated series for a sci-fi action movie based on Disney + and Buzz Lightwire …
– By Sandra Gonzalez’s story: “Members of Kardashian / Jenner Brood will work with Hulu as part of the Multiar Deal.” Dudz’s framing: “Kardashian joins Mickey …”
– There have been several FX-related announcements, including “It’s always sunny in Philadelphia” and four new asons in the “Alien” series …

– ABC News also got some voices, with Kelly Campbell saying that “Hulu’s nearly four million SVOD subscribers are engaged with election coverage through ABC News Live this election season,” and “We plan to expand our partnership with ABC News to new roots.” Content that will only survive on Hulu … “

For more, The Verge lists the “52 biggest” bits of news …

Kafka takes

Record’s Peter Kafka notes that Disney’s strategy is different from Warner’s, as Disney’s Biggest Movies will still run exclusively in first theaters. “The Black Widow” is set to take place on May 7, and “yet the complex covid vaccine rollout could continue,” he wrote. “Are you ready to walk around the house, with a lot of strangers for a few hours at that place? If Disney wanted to hedge its claim, it could have pushed back the release date, or just not assigned it. Instead, it’s in theaters. Wants to reaffirm his commitment to movies. “However, he said, Disney also” wants it both ways “and that’s why he promoted Disney + content for hours and hours.

>> Bottom line: Epidemics increase every count. I mean, one could argue that Warnermedia (CNN’s parents) are reaffirming their commitment to theaters by letting their 2021 films play on all the big screens …

“Focus on the customer”

I haven’t heard this live … podcast episode in a week? No, in months. Kara Swissher’s conversation with Warnermedia CEO Jason Killer is worth listening to or reading. While defending Warner Bros. ‘s decision and reacting to offended filmmakers and addressing theater owners, the word “customer” came up 34 times. The word “consumer” another 10 times. Here are some examples:

– “Ultimately, it’s the customer who will tell us which way to go.”

– “Life is hard enough. Why don’t we make things as easy as possible for customers?”

– “If everyone just took a breath and thought about the customer, it’s not that complicated. It’s not really. If we could just focus all the rest on the customer, we would be sitting. On a much bigger future.”

Swell in Hollywood

Brian Lori writes: “If customers aren’t happy, their agents aren’t happy – especially if they’re afraid it will cost money. Mike Fleming of Deadline has details of CAA’s concerns about HBO Max – starting with last week’s announcement They ‘turned a blind eye’ – and boiled down the sentence in a letter to Killer: ‘The bottom line is that you’re trying to take advantage of our customers to benefit your company. For that.’ Here is the letter … “
>> CNBC’s Alex Sherman writes: “WarnerMedia will probably be a guinea pig for the media industry … in that sense, the killer does dirty work for his colleagues …”
>> Ad Adalian’s view on Warner’s decision: “If Peak TV defined the first decade of streaming, 2020 could be known as the era of big movies on TV …” (Vulture)

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