Netflix Plans To Challenge Disney+ Head-To-Head
Netflix hosted a recent earnings call of its own, and CNBC.com’s Adedayo Akala outlined the streaming company’s plans to compete with the amazing subscriber base of Disney+.
Animation Is Key To Netflix’s Strategy Vs. Disney+
Akala reported:
Netflix is talking more about an area of content production that is at the heart of Disney’s brand and history: animated films. Fresh off two Oscars nomination for Best Animated Feature — “Klaus,” written and directed by Sergio Pablos, the creator of Despicable Me, and “I Lost My Body,” a French production which the streaming giant bought at Cannes — Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos highlighted its upcoming animated films in the recent earnings call.
Sarandos mentioned “The Willoughbys,” which will be released in Q2, and animated musical feature “Over the Moon” in Q4, and he named-dropped Glen Keane’s involvement with the latter. Keane is a former Disney character and supervising animator who worked on “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas” and Tarzan. Keane was named a “Disney Legend” by the entertainment giant. In 2017, Keane directed Oscar-winning “Dear Basketball,” an animated short film based on Kobe Bryant’s retirement poem.
“These are big theatrical scale animated features and big-scale feature films that would be competitive with anything you’d see in the box office, and I think people really do value them,” Sarandos said on the call.
https://youtu.be/Y1As3AoibrY
Worried About The Walt Disney Company?
However, while he cites the overall strengths and weaknesses of each outlet, analyst Jonathan Broughton doesn’t sound worried about The Walt Disney Company.
As Broughton said, “There are different services for different people.”
Meanwhile, another analyst — Jeff Wlodarczak, Founder and CEO of Pivotal Research Group — told CNBC, “I doubt the most powerful animation franchise in the world [Disney] is quaking in their boots.”
Recent Acquisitions
That said, acquisitions like Studio Ghibli, the production of original anime certainly cement Netflix as a powerful competitor.
“Anime has worldwide appeal, especially in Asia, so Netflix is shoring up its presence internationally before Disney’s international launch,” Del Vecchio said…
“Netflix is also taking advantage of a marketing principle that dictates to go where your competition is not. Since Disney is not a major player in anime, it makes sense that Netflix takes a leading role.”
IGN explored the 10 Best Netflix Series back in 2018 (Warning: Based on the series profiled, Video is PG-13):
Stay tuned. As I’ve written previously, the streaming wars have just begun.
