Disney’s Newfound Dominance in the Internet Streaming World
This past week, Disney media empire has expanded its reach to the small screen with the release of its on-demand streaming service: Disney+. This new service with all its promised features has been anticipated by consumer id ask ages during its announcing in this past April, and obtained a record number of 10 million new subscribers during the first week, skyrocketing the company’s stock prices to an all-time high of $152 per share. While the standalone appeal of a service that allows consumer access to all their favorite shows and movies that are under Disney’s overhead (including those from Marvel and Star Wars: two of my personal favorites) has attracted majority of Disney +’s subscribers, the streaming service’s initial success was only bolstered by its subtle but bundle deals with companies such as Verizon and notable its triple bundle deal with Hulu and ESPN.
The Disney+/Hulu/ESPN bundle allows access to the on-demand streaming content of all three platforms at a reduced monthly price. While the bundled has primarily encouraged Disney+ downloads, data has shown that downloads of Hulu and ESPN exclusive have also increased by 50%. This proverbial “Disney Magic” has also spread to other internet streaming services including Roku who witnessed a 25% increase in app downloads. Subsequently, these increases in downloads for Hulu allow Disney+ to prosper well without content ads; since most existing Hulu subscribers have had to deal with brief stream-interrupting ads and see Disney+ content as a nice add -on while people new to internet streaming are usually slow to pay for ad-free content. All the while, Disney continues to thrive thru the ad revenue from Hulu, who they now hold majority ownership over, with the bonus of 15 million Disney+ subscribers who , exclusively, are willing to pay them $7/month.
While reading this article, the words “network effects” were set in my mind. Disney’s nearly century-long success has always been due to a strong consumer base and its consistent pattern of expansion. This is only an example of Walt Disney Company’s expertise in marketing as they were able to promote Disney+’s success by concurrently promoting the adaptation of two of their most well-established services in the industry: Hulu and ESPN. Moreover, Disney’s achievements with Disney+ are indicative of an interesting idea on the subject of network diffusion: that promoting one existing product/service in a consumer network can facilitate the adoption rate and or financial success of a new product when it’s first introduced.
Works cited: Lawrence, Dallas. “Disney’s Stock Surge Is All about Its Streaming Bundle.” VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 27 Nov. 2019, venturebeat.com/2019/11/27/disneys-stock-surge-is-all-about-its-streaming-bundle/
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