It’s The Streaming Strategy, Stupid
Can 86-million Disney Plus Subscribers Be Wrong?
Back during the the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist James Carville helped focus the message for Clinton surrogates when he said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Focusing the campaign’s workers on simple messaging remains a seminal facet of the Clinton victory.
So, then I see the headline, “Disney Investor Day Review: It’s All About Streaming, ‘Star Wars’ & Marvel, Stupid; Bob Chapek Shows Steady Hand In CEO Role.” And, let’s just say, I get it.
As do 86-million subs.
Disney Strategy: Streaming First
Dominic Patten of Deadline reported:
Pulling out every trick, IP and franchise in the book, the nearly four-hour extravaganza emphasized that Disney is almost all about streaming less than a year after Disney+ launched with The Mandalorian as its marquee offering. Rocketing to more than 86 million subscribers, as was unveiled today by CEO [Bob] Chapek, the service itself will be full of much more Star Wars, much more Marvel and more movies as the coronavirus pandemic looks to shutter cinemas deep into 2021.
Coming off its best stock performance ever the past two days even as most of its theme parks remain closed due to Covid-19, the jump to light speed of Investor Day 2020 came with the reveal that the Empire is striking back, hard.
Splashing about a galaxy full of footage of The Mandalorian and the Child, a new universe of the George Lucas franchise [will] debut in the next four years on both the big and small screen. Or as Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy proclaimed: “There is truly a new Star Wars story for everyone,” Marvel kingpin Kevin Feige never said the same, but he really didn’t have to.
Disney Plus: An Unrelenting Onslaught
Honestly, it was downright scary, especially for those of us trying to blog key details, as Disney rolled out show after show.
The bottom line, according to Deadline?
[With] a pandemic-expanded feature slate for the streamer, and a balancing act for many tentpoles between going online and showing up in theaters, and the biggest player in Hollywood made it pretty clear how they plan to own the board.
And with a record high stock score today, that board is already looking pretty good.