Disney’s 2025 Streaming Conundrum
In a perfect world, would you prefer exciting new programs and stories, or are you more of a fan of sequels?
How do you feel about reality shows? Are they a viable substitute for original programming?
Walt Disney Company
While there’s no one true answer to any of these questions, Disney must try to find a balance with its content.
That leads us to today’s topic. Let’s discuss Disney’s 2025 streaming conundrum.
The “No Sequels” Lie
With every generation of storytelling, The Walt Disney Company faces iterations of the same age-old question.
What’s the best and preferably most cost-effective way to entertain modern consumers?
Photo: Disney
And I’ll level with you that the art side of that conversation loses to the commerce side all too often.
For anyone who doesn’t believe me, I’ll point to Disney’s three 2024 blockbusters: Inside Out 2, Moana 2, and Deadpool & Wolverine.
Image: Pixar
When Disney tried an original story in 2022, Strange World failed completely. Then, Wish fell victim to the same fate in 2023.
For all of society’s bluster that we want new stories, we vote with our wallets. And we provide quite the mixed message that way.
Photo: Disney
For example, nine films earned at least $500 million in global box office in 2024.
All nine of them were either sequels or based on existing properties.
Photo: Marvel
Wicked is the non-sequel of the bunch, but it’s based on one of the most popular musicals ever.
In terms of the global box office, the most successful original IP of 2024 was The Wild Robot, which earned $325 million.
Photo: Universal Pictures
The Chris Sanders story – he’s the person who created Stitch! – finished 19th in global box office.
In other words, we as a society watched 18 sequels and adaptations of musicals and books more often than any new story.
Photo: Universal Pictures
So, we say we don’t want sequels, prequels, and spinoffs, but then we watch those more than anything else.
If you’re Disney, how do you even process that information?
Photo: Disney+
People complain about all their sequels, yet few of them watched Strange World or Wish in theaters.
The known stories are the money makers. That trend applies to streaming as well.
Disney’s Streaming Conundrum
As mentioned a few days ago, Disney won the streaming wars in 2024.
That’s a somewhat misleading yet factually accurate statement.
Photo: Disney
In terms of revenue, new subscribers, total subscribers, and the like, Netflix absolutely dominated the industry.
But Disney claimed the most streamed movie of the year, Moana, and the top four most streamed programs of the year.
Photo: Disney
Bluey was THE most streamed television show or movie for calendar 2024.
Other steady performers included American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and Grey’s Anatomy.
Hulu banners in Disney’s Hollywood Studios
While all those shows are still in production, their new episodes weren’t the ones people streamed the most.
Consumer behavior works much differently, as people tend to rewatch their favorite episodes of beloved programs.
Hulu/Disney+
I don’t claim to understand the behavior with murder procedurals like NCIS and Criminal Minds, but I totally do this with my faves.
There are entire episodes of Futurama, The Big Bang Theory, and Star Trek: Lower Decks I can nearly recite from memory.
Futurama
Meanwhile, the list of new episodes I need to watch keeps getting longer.
In fact, I’ve been sitting on the series finale of Umbrella Academy for like two months now. I’ll get to it, I swear!
Photo: Netflix
Therein lies the problem for Disney. New seasons of programs are wildly expensive in many instances.
You’ve read the horror stories about how much Disney spent on The Acolyte ($230+ million) and Secret Invasion ($212 million).
Photo: Disney
Those programs performed poorly, which made them horrible investments.
Meanwhile, Disney owns American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, and Family Guy. It can do nothing but stream those shows and be fine.
Hulu banners
I say this because the data suggests these are the preferred streaming programs based on consumer viewing habits.
So, why should Disney spend money on new stuff?
The Proof Is in the Numbers
Nielsen has posted its streaming charts for the week of January 6th through January 12th, 2025.
We can already tell that 2025 is shaping up the same way as 2024 in that Disney’s bread and butter is established content.
Photo: Disney+
Disney+ and Hulu were home to three of the top ten most-streamed programs overall and several others.
Here’s how they did:
- Bluey – 1.11 billion viewer minutes watched
- Bob’s Burgers – 936 million
- Grey’s Anatomy – 753 million
- Family Guy – 723 million
- NCIS – 596 million
- Moana — 233 million
Photo: Disney
After gaining a slight bump during the build-up to the release of Moana 2, Moana has returned to its general range in 2023-2024.
As for the rest, you should identify the reality here. Disney’s biggest “hits” are re-runs of beloved shows.
Disney’s Temporary Solution
So, if you’re in charge of Disney, you must ask yourself, “How do we justify the expense of streaming content?”
During Disney’s recent earnings call, an investment analyst busted the company on this point.
Families Streaming Disney+
Disney quietly reduced its streaming content spend from $24 billion to $23 billion, hoping nobody would notice.
In 2022, Disney paid $33 billion for its content, meaning we’re down $3 billion in barely two years.
Photo: Disneypluspress
That’s not happening by accident. After several high-profile failures with original streaming content, Disney has dialed it back.
The company will still spend on ambitious projects like Shogun, Only Murders in the Building, and The Bear.
Photo: Disney
However, the new business model is to make original content as cheaply as possible, which Marvel did with Agatha All Along.
The problem with this solution is that it’s not viable long-term.
Photo: Marvel
The company needs new content to spin the Disney Flywheel.
Unfortunately, audiences haven’t warmed to new content on Disney+ and Hulu yet, though.
Photo: Disney
So, Disney is playing it safe while consumers demonstrate strong tendencies toward established stories over new ones.
In the short term, original content on Disney+ and Hulu will be much scarcer, as demonstrated by the $10 billion budget shave.
Photo: Disney+
At the moment, Disney is content to cede the battle over original content to Netflix.
Disney will change tactics at some point down the line, but 2025 is shaping up to be an entire year of “same old, same old.”
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