By Kayla DeKraker
Disney continues to see growth through its partnerships with other companies such as Hulu and ESPN, and the entertainment behemoth doesn’t plan on slowing down.
“The presence of Hulu embedded in Disney+ basically from a user experience perspective and the addition of sports content is definitely having an impact, definitely having a positive impact,” said Diseny CEO Bob Iger during a first-quarter earnings call.
“Not only is engagement up, but churn is down and significantly,” he revealed. “And as we look ahead, it’s obviously our desire and in fact, we’re optimistic about being able to execute against it to turn the streaming business into a true growth business.”
Iger acknowledged that Disney’s diverse partnerships are one-of-a-kind, something not seen in other bundling partnerships.
“When you consider the Disney brands that are part of Disney+, the general entertainment that’s part of Hulu and the volume, and then the live sports that will be part of the experience,” he said. “In a way, there’s nothing like it in the streaming world. It’s unrivaled in terms of quality, in terms of volume and just in terms of variety. We’re very excited about it.”
The CEO admitted the tech side of the company needs improvement, likely to keep up with streamers like Netflix which recently launched a new “innovated,” user-friendly platform.
Related: AI Comes to Disney. How Will It Change the Company?
Iger said, “We’re also hard at work in improving…basically the tech side of that business. We’ve taken a lot of steps already…including paid sharing, which we’re just kicking in with Hulu that’s also starting to work. A lot more in terms of personalization and customization, a lot on the ad-tech side and much more coming.”
He said that he has plans to expand more content and local channels to regions outside of the U.S.
“And of course, the third pillar of growth will be investment in content, particularly outside the United States where we know that we need to invest more in local content, and we’ve already started that process.”
He reassured, “It takes time, and we don’t really end up booking those costs until the shows air, but we’re already starting to develop more aggressively in very, very targeted markets outside the United States.”
While Disney+ is not the most-watched streamer, but it performs pretty well. According to Nielsen’s “The Gauge” June numbers, Disney+ received 4.8% of total streaming viewership, with Netflix ahead at 8.3%. Prime Video sits just below at 3.6%.
It seems with its plans and determination, Disney will make changes that may add to its overall viewership in the future.
Read Next: Can Streaming Actually Help Linear TV Shows’ Numbers?
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