Has Disney Cannibalized Its Streaming Programs?
We’ve got a few weeks of Nielsen Streaming Ratings to discuss, and they tell a story.
For a time, Disney absolutely dominated the charts, once claiming more than 50 percent of entries.
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
During a recent week, Disney’s programs fell under 27 percent, and I think I may know why.
Has Disney intentionally cannibalized its streaming content? I think yes. Here’s why.
The Disney Bundle
VIP+
You may have forgotten this fact, but Disney’s streaming business wasn’t profitable until recently.
The Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) division didn’t break even in consecutive quarters until 2024.
Folks, it’s 2025. So, Disney’s financial struggles with streaming aren’t too far in the past.
Thankfully, Bob Iger returned as CEO and quickly righted the ship by focusing on profitability.
Photo: Getty
Iger also focused on his Trojan horse, the Disney Bundle, a trifecta of streaming services.
Well, I say that, but the Disney Bundle could consist of just two services, Disney+ and Hulu.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)
You can also add in ESPN+, and now there’s ESPN the app, and an HBO Max bundle is an option, too.
Everything got messy, which is part of Iger’s plan. He wants to empower customers with choice.
Photo: Hulu
Those subscribers who only need Bluey and Disney movies can stick to Disney+.
Anybody who loves a plethora of content can max out their package, paying upwards of $40 a month in the process.
Families Streaming Disney+
Here’s the thing about this business model. It impacts viewer behavior in unexpected ways.
Disney integrated Hulu and ESPN+ content into the Disney+ app for the first time in December 2024.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Before that, Disney+ was a one-trick pony of sorts, offering almost exclusively Disney content.
So, for years, Disney performed unexpectedly well on the Nielsen Streaming charts.
NPR
Even though Netflix’s subscriber base was vastly larger, Disney+ punched above its weight class.
Recently, that hasn’t been the case, and you’re probably already figuring out why.
The Cannibalization of Disney Streaming Content
Walt Disney Company
Subscribers to the Disney Bundle can access Hulu and ESPN+ content through Disney+.
What does that look like in terms of the content library? Well, it’s pretty shocking.
Photo: Disney
Disney+ hosts at least 3,750 television series and movies, which is a lot.
I don’t want to undersell the amount of content, but it seems small in comparison to Hulu.
Photo: Disney
When Disney integrated the Hulu tile, it became a massive content depository of roughly 10,000 programs.
In other words, Hulu basically tripled the amount of content people can watch on Disney+.
Photo:cnet.com
That’s not even factoring in all the live sports available via ESPN+ and now ESPN.
So, to provide a better product to consumers, Disney cannibalized its own streaming content.
Photo: English Jargon
Historically, the premier content on Disney+ was a big fish in a little pond.
Now that there’s more than triple the competition, the most popular shows on Disney+ have slipped a bit.
Photo: Bluey.tv
I’ll use Bluey as an example, as it’s THE most popular show on streaming and the anchor content on Disney+.
Bluey frequently surpassed one billion viewer minutes per week on the Nielsen Streaming charts.
Photo: Ludo Studios
Lately, that number has dropped by more than 30 percent, as I’ll quickly demonstrate.
Here are Bluey’s ratings for Nielsen’s three most recent streaming charts:
- 670 million viewer minutes
- 643 million viewer minutes
- 768 million viewer minutes
Photo: Ludo Studios
Those top two numbers are the lowest ones Nielsen has registered for Bluey since it added the Streaming chart.
Sure, an argument could be made that Bluey hasn’t had new episodes in a while.
Photo: Ludo Studios
I’m confident that’s partially a factor here, but it wouldn’t explain a decline of this size.
Long story short, people have more viewership options on Disney+ now, which is a good thing.
Photo: Ludo Studios
However, this dramatic content library expansion is negatively impacting Disney’s Nielsen performances.
The Nielsen Ratings for the Past Three Weeks
Wall Street Journal
As proof, I’ll post the three most recent weeks of Disney content that charted on Nielsen’s streaming ratings.
They cover the weeks of October 20th-26th, October 27th-November 2nd, and November 3rd-9th.
Photo: Hulu
For the week starting on October 20th, here are the Disney entries:
- NCIS – 840 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy — 835 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order – 699 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 693 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 670 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 568 million viewer minutes
- Only Murders in the Building – 349 million viewer minutes
- Hocus Pocus – 230 million viewer minutes
- Taken in Plain Sight – 209 million viewer minutes
- Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – 190 million viewer minutes
Photo: Hulu
Longtime readers of this article remember two of these titles from previous Halloweens.
Hocus Pocus and Nightmare Before Christmas typically soar at this time of year.
Hocus Pocus Movie Poster
The week before Halloween, their performance wasn’t anywhere near as good as in prior years.
Let’s check Halloween Week before we say that for sure, though.
Hocus Pocus – Sanderson Sisters – 1993
- Grey’s Anatomy – 787 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 730 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 683 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 643 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order – 641 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 581 million viewer minutes
- Only Murders in the Building – 416 million viewer minutes
- Hocus Pocus – 299 million viewer minutes
- Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas – 266 million viewer minutes
- Coco – 247 million viewer minutes
Photo: Getty
So, the movies ticked up slightly, and Coco appeared for the Day of the Dead holiday, too.
Still, these numbers are nowhere near the performances from previous years.
The Early November Proof
Walt Disney Company
Then, both fell off the charts as soon as the calendar flipped to November. Here are those ratings:
- Grey’s Anatomy – 866 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 770 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 768 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 709 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order – 689 million viewer minutes
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps – 556 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 476 million viewer minutes
Photo: Disney
So, the Halloween content disappeared, and some adult animation shows like Family Guy are nowhere to be found.
Overall, out of 90 possible chart entries, Disney placed only 27, which is 30 percent.
Photo: Ivan Marc / Shutterstock.com
That’s a far cry from the 50 percent the company was managing not that long ago.
Long story short, now that consumers have more content variety, Disney’s anchor programs have faded a bit.
Disney doesn’t care as long as consumers keep paying for the Disney Bundle.
Still, this only enhances the perception that Netflix is running laps around the competition.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: Disney+
