Disney to ‘Selectively’ License More Content
By Movieguide® Contributor
Disney CEO Bob Iger further stepping away from his previous mindset as he ponders licensing more Disney content.
In 2022, Iger “eschewed the thought, saying it would be like ‘selling nuclear weapons technology to a Third World country, and now they’re using it against us,’” The Hollywood Reporter said on May 7.
“We’re already doing some licensing with Netflix, and we’re looking selectively at other possibilities,” Iger said at Disney’s earnings call Tuesday. “I don’t want to declare that it’s a direction we’ll go more aggressively or not. But we certainly are taking a look at it and being expansive in our thinking about it.”
Disney thought its name alone was big enough to attract all the viewers it needs. It turns out that’s not the case.
“We had previously thought that exclusivity, meaning our own product and our own platforms, had huge value. It definitely does have some value. But we’re also watching as some studios have licensed content to third-party streamers, and that then creates more traction, more awareness,” Iger said.
“And the fact increases not only the value of the content from a financial perspective, but just in terms of traction. So we’re looking at it with an open mind, but I don’t think you should expect that we’ll do a significant amount of it,” Iger continued.
In February, Ampere Analysis noted that of all major streaming services, Disney holds the most licensable titles.
The research company said, “Disney holds the most titles with licensing power, owning 148 that were still exclusive to its own streaming services as of December 2023–a potential licensing cache more than double the size of any other major Hollywood studio.
Movieguide® recently reported on the company’s issues with overproducing content and licensing the WILLOW series:
“We ended up losing a lot of money on [streaming], more so than we expected initially,” Iger said. “Part of that was because we were chasing sub growth and not as focused as we needed to be on the bottom line. I came back and the losses were around $4 billion a year. It was clear that that was not sustainable and not acceptable and the goal was first let’s reduce those losses.”
Now, the company has cut down on its content and enabled some of it, like the WILLOW series, to be licensed to other platforms.
Now, Disney’s streaming game is a little better off. Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ had a revenue of $6.2 billion with a loss of $18 million last quarter.
“When ESPN+ is removed from that equation, the entertainment streaming business was profitable, with revenues of $5.6 billion and a net profit of $47 million. The entire streaming division is expected to be fully in the black in the fiscal fourth quarter,” The Hollywood Reporter said.
“We feel quite bullish about it. Obviously, we’re heartened by the results that Netflix has delivered in their password sharing initiative and believe that will be one of the contributors to growth, as [CFO Hugh Johnston] noted going forward,” Iger said.
Comic Book observed that in the investors’ call, Iger also mentioned that it will scale back on Marvel content. There will be a maximum of three Marvel Studios movies per year and only two Marvel series per year.
“[Marvel has] a couple of good films in ’25 and then we’re heading to more Avengers which we’re extremely excited about,” Iger added. “Overall, I feel great about the slate. It’s something, as you know, that I’ve committed to spending more and more time on. The team is one that I have tremendous confidence in and the IP that we’re mining, including all the sequels that we’re doing, is second to none.”
