Disney is increasingly dependent on Disney +, as movie theaters have not been able to recover from several months of closure after the start of the pandemic. Ticket sales have been particularly low in US theaters, where the industry has tried to open theaters since late August.
Disney announced a restructuring of its media and entertainment divisions in which, given the changes that the coronavirus has forced, it ensures that its “primary focus” will be on the streaming service.
Thus, to accelerate its strategy directly to the consumer, it plans to centralize its media business and concentrate it in a single organization that will be responsible for the distribution of content, sale of advertising and its Disney + platform.
Disney’s decision comes after the coronavirus pandemic dealt a severe blow to the cinema sector and led most of its consumers to opt for digital platform options and streaming services.
By last August, Disney already had 100 million subscribers to its different streaming services, more than half of them clients of the Disney + platform.
Just last week, Third Point Capital investor Daniel Loeb had asked Disney CEO Bob Chapek to invest more funds in Disney + content.
As part of its restructuring, Disney has promoted its former president of games and advertising in the company’s consumer products division, Kareem Daniel, who will now oversee the new media and entertainment distribution group.
In this way, it will have to ensure that streaming continues to be profitable for Disney, while it continues to bet on this modality, so it will be in charge of all the streaming services of the company and the network of television channels.
Disney is increasingly dependent on Disney +, as movie theaters have not been able to recover from several months of closure after the start of the pandemic.
Ticket sales have been particularly low in US theaters, where the industry has been trying to open theaters since late August.
In recent months it has been forced to delay several premieres on the big screen, including the Marvel blockbuster “Black Widow” or the long-awaited Pixar’s “Soul”, which will now premiere directly on Disney + next December. .
In addition, it is still unknown what benefits the popular “Mulan” has reported, which also could not be released in theaters and was sold to the Disney + division for US $ 30 million.
For their part, Alan Horn and Alan Bergman will continue to be in charge of the Disney studios; Peter Rice will continue to lead the overall entertainment group, and James Pitaro will remain as the sports content manager, while they will all work under the direct leadership of Bob Chapek.
“Given the enormous success of Disney + and our plans to accelerate products that go directly to the consumer, we are strategically positioning our company to support our growth effectively,” Chapek explained in a statement.
“Managing the creation of content and, on the other hand, distribution has to allow us to be more effective and agile when creating the content that consumers want, in the format in which they prefer to consume it,” he added.
