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The battle is launched. Walt Disney Co is bringing its main weapons to a new streaming service, including "Star Wars" and Marvel superheroes, as part of a deadly war with Netflix and others for the dominance of television.
The media and entertainment giant announced that its Disney + streaming service will be launched in November in the United States and will gradually expand internationally. Subscriptions for the new service should start at $ 6.99 a month, which is less than the most basic package offered by the Netflix leader at $ 8.99.
Disney + will be packed with blockbuster movies and television shows from the Disney Library, including the recently acquired assets of 21st Century Fox. This includes shows and movies from Pixar animation studios, the Marvel superhero franchise like "Spider Man" and "Captain America", National Geographic documentaries and of course the "Star Wars" series.
Disney announced that it would include the 30 seasons of "The Simpsons", family titles like "The Sound of Music", "Malcolm in the Middle" and his upcoming series "Space Opera" "The Mandalorian".
According to analysts, the announcement of Disney shows that it does not grant any quarter, while it fights against Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and a future service of Apple.
"The biggest surprise was the price – $ 6.99 a month, which was a lot cheaper than what many people expected," said Alan Wolk, co-founder of the TVREV consulting company. "It's also ad-free, which was unexpected, in that it was generally accepted that they would opt for a hybrid Hulu-style model, with both ad-supported options and ads without advertising. "
Wolk said the programming "is exactly what you expect from Disney and will appeal to families with children". He added that the content of this site would mean that the new service would not compete with Hulu, 60% owned by Disney.
The move "allows them to position Hulu as their most modest and mature offer possible," he said.
Disney plans to enroll 60 to 90 million users over the next five years. Some analysts have stated that they expect Disney 's new service to grow rapidly and become the first of the 140 million Netflix subscribers worldwide.
Analyst Neil Macker of Morningstar said that Disney "is unmarked during its investor day with an aggressive price" for its streaming service.
"We were pleasantly surprised by the levels of content," Macker said at the investor ceremony. "Although it's smaller than Netflix, we think the Disney + library will be deeper in terms of quality."
CFRA Research's Tuna Amobi announced that Disney + would launch an "unparalleled lineup of branded television / motion picture content" and, as a result, "could change the game in a rapidly evolving landscape".
Amobi said Disney also had the potential to "combine" its new product with Hulu and its recently launched ESPN + sports streaming service to offer consumers a wider choice of content.
But some analysts argue that rivals will not drop the competition and that more agile Internet companies could win.
Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research pointed out that the "Disney" project could be affected by a long theatrical "window" that prevents movies from being streamed for months and by long-standing offers offering competitors a part of its content.
"We wonder how the company will explain what's available and what's available on Disney +, domestically and internationally," Greenfield said in a research note. "Will consumers understand that a new Marvel movie is available in movie theaters, but not on Disney + for eight months?"
John Meyer, an analyst at investment firm Transpire Ventures, said Netflix still had the upper hand in the market.
Meyer said Disney could "carve out a small niche" among families and young viewers, but does not pose a serious threat to Netflix.
"Netflix now knows what people want more than anyone," said Meyer. "After all, they are a technology company at heart and have tremendous power with the data that they capture on their millions of subscribers, which helps them to design the original content to create."
Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham & Co., disagrees, saying that Disney, with its well-known brands and brands, will eventually overwhelm Netflix.
"We think Netflix can not win" in such a war because of Disney's financial advantage of owning a large amount of content.
"Disney products reach 100 million homes a year, which reduces Disney's cost of acquiring customers," Martin said in a note to customers.
Martin said that, as part of a survey, US customers announced that they would only use two or three streaming services. Therefore, any growth of Disney + would significantly weaken Netflix.
© 2019 AFP
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