Disney Leaders Reveal Streaming Strategy and Growth Drivers

At the recent D23 fan fest weekend in Anaheim, Disney leadership took the stage to discuss their business strategies and vision for driving growth in the streaming era. The Mouse House’s push into the booming vertical media space, aka microdramas and other short-form clips designed to be viewed on mobile phones, was a major topic of discussion.

Eric Schrier, Disney’s president of Direct-to-Consumer International Originals, Strategic Programming, and Emerging Media, emphasized that the ‘Verts’ push on Disney+ is a significant investment for the company. The company recently unveiled a pact with TikTok designed to encourage more fans to create clips with authorized Disney IP. This is a big change for the company that has historically vigorously enforced its copyright and trademark rights.

"We’ve always looked at making film and television in very finite formats. Half hours, hours, feature-length films. And now you can tell any story. Creators are just storytellers," Schrier said. "We’ve always talked about our creators before there were actually creators. The creator of ‘Paradise,’ Dan Fogelman, he’s a creator. We talk about them as creators. And so they’re just different types of storytellers. So how do we bring those stories to Disney+? How do we complement what we already have on platform? And it’s early days, but we’re really excited about this next generation of storytellers that are out there that are into Disney+."

Erin Teague, executive VP of Product Management for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, pointed to examples that demonstrate how smart promotion and word-of-mouth via social media helps drive viewership to Disney’s biggest investments in TV and film.

"There will never be a replacement for that long-form original content but what is interesting is the way that it is now being supplemented by the shorter form analysis, the clips," Teague said. As with live game coverage for sports, she said, "the additional commentary and analysis around the game is just as interesting. And so the ways that we can merge those experiences to give people exactly what they want, when they want it in a split second, I think, is the challenge."

Blake Silva, a Disney-centric creator, emphasized that most experienced creators who hone their focus on key brands and franchises know how to plug themselves into the company’s priorities.

"We look at social media and clips going viral, about movies or scenes from movies all the time," Silva said. "So imagine how that would translate and convert when they’re already in the app, to watch it immediately. I really believe in the creator to talent pipeline. It’s really exciting to think how could this create the next Mister Rogers, my idol."

Teague underscored that fans expect to be part of the action in ways that were unimaginable to their parents and grandparents.

"Next generations of fans are expecting more from their entertainment experience. They want to be a part of the story. They want to put themselves in the story. They want interactivity. They want to have more agency in the storytelling experience with the democratization of creativity," Teague said.

Teague also took part in a session on how ESPN’s increasingly global sports profile is helping Disney find subscribers and fans.

"ESPN is effectively synonymous with sports as a brand. So diehard sports fans know and love ESPN and have forever, that will never change. We will never stop serving the diehard, loyal sports fan because that’s our base," Teague said during the session moderated by Joe Earley, Co-President of Direct to Consumer for Disney Entertainment.

"But two trends are happening. One, the internet and native generations. Gen Alpha, Gen Z, etc. They are now expecting more from their sports fandom and their sports experience," Teague said. "The technology is evolving and we’re thinking about how to also superserve the casual sports fan, because that fandom is equally as real. And it turns out it looks very similar to Disney fandom. And so we’re thinking about this consistently across our product experiences."

Freddy Rolón, ESPN’s head of global sports and talent office, reeled off the latest stats for ESPN’s reach with 43 linear networks in more than 130 countries and territories, and it is available on Disney+ in more than 100 markets.

"We reach more casual fans, we reach more female fans on Disney+ and then on the flip side, ESPN brings to Disney+ a credibility about sports, authenticity about sports, and then really a recurring reason for fans to come back to the platform. Not just for the games, but for the game around the game," Rolón said.

Jo Fox, senior VP of marketing for ESPN, said the tighter connection to Disney+ as the platform has expanded significantly across Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Latin America has been hugely beneficial.

"We use the Disney+ platform and their audience, who might be different to our ESPN core audience, and we can talk to them more directly and get them more enthused about sports and ultimately engaging with Disney+ and ESPN as well," Fox said.

Earley also moderated a session on Disney+'s international content strategy for local-language production with Schrier and Carol Choi, Disney Asia Pacific’s executive VP of Integrated Marketing & APAC Original Strategy.

"What we’re really looking to do is tell stories for local audiences and be hyper-local. We call it local for local. So we make French shows for France, Spanish shows for Spain, or Brazilian shows for Brazil. And we do that all over the world," Schrier said.

"We’re going to be increasing that significantly to have local audiences have something that expresses their culture and their sensibilities," Schrier said.

Disney’s push into vertical media and emerging formats is expected to be a significant growth driver for the company in the streaming era.

The company’s recent pact with TikTok is designed to encourage more fans to create clips with authorized Disney IP, marking a big change for the company that has historically vigorously enforced its copyright and trademark rights.

Disney’s strategy to reach next-generation fans with next-generation content formats is expected to keep the company’s many franchises relevant to Gen Alpha and beyond.