When I was a kid, I used to carry my Cinderella bag–pack to school every day. And if I remember correctly, almost every other kid had a bag-pack or some other school supply that had something to do with Disney. And once we were back from school, we used to watch Mickey Mouse Club House on Disney Channel. It is safe to say that Disney was a big part of my childhood while growing up. With the launch of Disney Plus, I was able to relive those days once again as I had easy access to my all-time favourite content on one platform. So, to experience the brand, I decided to explore the website and understand what all features are provided by Disney Plus. In this blog, I navigated through the website of Disney Plus India, which has been launched in India in collaboration with Hotstar (Under Star India which used to be a part of 21st Century Fox).
On the home page I found separate sections for TV shows, movies, sports and there was even a separate section for kids. After that the website had divided the content according to the franchise and each section has all the movies and shows from that franchise. This feature really organises the content and makes it easier for the users to navigate and choose from a wide variety of content. Disney Plus also recommends the user movies and shows they might like based on what they have watched earlier. For me the recommendations were pretty good and accurate, for example, since I had already watched ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ several times, Disney recommended me ‘The Beatles: Get Back’.
As Marvel’s new show Hawkeye was going to be released soon, there were several banners advertising the same to create a hype. There was also an option to put a notification alert to inform me when a new episode is released, so that the viewer doesn’t miss the episode. I think it was a good feature as it improves the customer experience.
Since I was streaming on Disney Plus India, they even provided me with various language options to choose from where I could even watch regional content from 8 different languages. This feature is very useful for those who prefer to watch regional movies and shows in their languages. It also means that Disney can use the regional content available on Hotstar to expand its current market and target the local market of India.
In the kids’ section, the content was segregated according to the age of the child. There were shows available for kids as young as 2 years old. This just shows that they have movies and shows for all age groups, kids as young as age 2 to adults.
And finally, there was a feature to add shows to your watchlist. With the busy schedule these days, nobody has time to binge watch their favourite shows. With the help of this, we can create a watchlist where we can add the shows that we want to watch later and then enjoy them on weekends/ vacations. There is even an option to share what you are watching with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platform. This promotes word of mouth publicity as people often tend to watch movies or shows recommended by their friends and family.
Overall, I believe the website of Disney Plus is really easy to use and provides a wide variety of content. With various features provided throughout the website, it makes the user experience far better.
____________ Surabhi SRIVASTAVA
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