When we think of Disney, we remember my winter holidays where we spent the mornings watching Disney movies with a cup of hot chocolate. Not much has changed in that area to be honest. Disney as a brand has always had the feeling of comfort and innocence associated to it. Although if you look at Disney now, it is much more than a brand for kids. With the addition of franchises such as Marvels, Star Wars and even Grey’s Anatomy! (Yes, you read that right, Grey’s Anatomy also comes under Disney), it has expanded its target audience beyond kids. With the launch of its streaming platform Disney Plus in 2019, they were able to launch all their content on their own platform.
How are they targeting the new generation?
To target the younger and more mature audience, they acquired many studios like Marvel Cinema and Fox Studios which gave them exclusive rights to some of the cult favorites like Avengers Series, Iron Man Series, Star Wars Series, Titanic, How I Met Your Mother etc. These shows are not just famous amongst the GenZ and Millennials, but they are also one of the biggest franchises after Harry Potter. Having exclusive rights to these big names meant that the movies and shows would only be available on Disney Plus. MCU and Star Wars already had a big fan base meaning instant subscribers for Disney Plus. Now they are launching the new hit superhero shows like Loki and Wanda Vision directly on the platform and due to the popularity of these shows, they are able to get new subscribers instantly.
What did the merger with Fox Studios bring to the table?
I think we all remember the big Fox X Disney merger that happened in March 2019. It was one of the biggest media mergers of all time since Fox Studios was one of the 6 big Hollywood studios (Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, Paramount, 21st Century Fox). With this merger, Disney was able to get the rights for many media content like Titanic, How I Met Your Mother and Even National Geographic Channel. But media content is not the only thing that Disney won. As a result of this merger, Disney now also owns Fox’s 30% of the shares in Hulu (another streaming platform). Interesting enough, Disney already had 30% of Hulu’s share which means now it owns 60% i.e., majority of the shares making itself the majority owner. This merger helped them target a lot of potential customers that Fox had. They were able to acquire the user base of 21st Century Fox and divert them to their own streaming platform, Disney Plus.
Is this the right direction to go?
I believe that this is the right direction for Disney to proceed. With the growing market competition, adapting to the scenario is very important to stay relevant. Expanding the target audience seems to be the correct direction for Disney. Earlier the company that used to focus on kids and families, is now targeting people of all age group while still keeping its core values. And these are some points that are very important for businesses to succeed.
____________ Surabhi SRIVASTAVA
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