How Dana Walden Built Disney’s Streaming Empire
In case you somehow missed it, Disney just promoted Dana Walden.
While it wasn’t the position she wanted, she still described it as her dream job.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
As of March 18th, Walden will become the first President of The Walt Disney Company in 21 years.
More importantly, she’ll be the first person ever to hold the title of Chief Creative Officer at Disney.
Photo: Getty
At one point, Walden seemed more likely to succeed Bob Iger as Disney CEO.
Alas, several events largely beyond her control led to Josh D’Amaro getting that job instead.
Photo: Disney
Still, Disney kept Walden by finding a way to double-promote her while giving her a hefty raise.
Here’s how Dana Walden helps Disney’s streaming plans.
Disney’s Rough Week
At its core, this is actually the Nielsen Streaming Ratings update for this week.
I’d plan to discuss Nielsen’s The Gauge more, but recent events called for a pivot.
Nielsen
In case you missed the drama, Disney’s stock dropped the other day.
In the aftermath of Disney’s latest quarterly earnings report, $DIS yo-yo’d to an impressive degree.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
At one point, the stock had increased more than $5 in pre-market trading. Those good times didn’t last.
By the end of that day, $DIS had plunged more than $8 for…any number of reasons.
Disney
I read so many financial evaluations over the next 96 hours, none of which agreed on why.
Much of it was political, with international tourism to the United States declining some.
Photo: The New York Post
The numbers actually contradicted this fact, with Disney Experiences forecasting solid growth in 2026.
Other critics lamented Disney’s broadcast television holdings as an albatross, which is just plain weird.
Photo: Getty
That part of the Disney empire still earns plenty of money, just not as much as a decade ago.
Finally, some very good analysts still argue that Disney isn’t performing well enough on streaming.
I picture Bob Iger trying to choke all the people saying that, as he has worked miracles there.
When Iger returned, Disney had just lost $1.4 billion in a quarter, which is why Bob Chapek got fired.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)
Now, Disney+ and Hulu are netting $450 million a quarter, which somehow still isn’t good enough.
Still, we can track the reason for Hulu’s success to one person: Dana Walden.
Walden’s Impressive Track Record
walt disney company
Deadline posted this article about Walden’s promotion, which they paint as a glass ceiling problem.
I understand that argument, but I’d argue it was more of a math problem.
Disney Experiences, D’Amaro’s division, earned a factor of eight more than the streaming segment.
So, I view this choice as financially driven, which has freaked out Hollywood.
Photo: Disney
Several articles noted that Disney is now a theme park business more than an entertainment one.
Yes. Welcome to the party. That’s been the case for a long time, but it doesn’t change the truth.
At its core, Disney is a storytelling business, one that entices fans to keep coming back for more.
And that part is why Disney faced an obvious path: it absolutely had no choice but to promote Walden.
JON KOPALOFF/GETTY IMAGES
Disney couldn’t lose her, and the reason why comes straight from that Deadline article.
Here’s the cut-and-paste of their list of some of the shows on Walden’s resume:
(Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
“24, 9-1-1, Abbott Elementary, American Horror Story, American Idol, The Bear, Bluey, Bob’s Burgers, Dancing With the Stars, Family Guy, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, The Handmaid’s Tale, Homeland, The Kardashians, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Spidey and his Amazing Friends, The Simpsons, and This Is Us.”
Photo: Bluey
I had to stifle a giggle as I read that list, as it’s basically Disney’s recurring roster of Nielsen streaming hits.
As I told you last week, Bluey and Grey’s Anatomy were the top two streaming programs in 2025.
Photo: Bluey.tv
By my count, at least ten other titles on that list have placed on the Nielsen streaming charts.
The Midas Touch
Variety
Deadline didn’t list others that apply here, such as American Dad and my beloved Futurama.
In fact, here’s a 2009 press release about Walden having a hand in saving Futurama.
Photo: simplemost.com
This executive somehow has the Midas Touch for what viewers want…and I don’t just mean immediately.
Several of the shows on her resume have demonstrated stunning staying power, running for 10+ seasons.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company – DANA WALDEN (CO-CHAIRMAN, DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT), BOB IGER (CEO, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY), ALAN BERGMAN (CO-CHAIRMAN, DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT)
I’ve often mentioned how sticky many of these programs are, particularly the adult animation.
Those programs all have Walden’s fingerprints all over them. And from now on, she runs the whole show at Disney.
Shutterstock
All content goes through her, which means Disney is in the safest hands imaginable.
Remember when Disney broke records for the most Emmy Awards ever?
Photo: Dr DIsney
Again, everything then went through Walden, but now she has oversight over Disney’s film division as well.
The current setup of D’Amaro running Disney but leaving all entertainment to Walden is a dream scenario.
Deadline
I’ll discuss that more in a later article about Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, but that’s the point today.
Longtime readers of the Nielsen Streaming Charts know the deal here.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
Walden’s fingerprints are all over the charts each and every week. Now, she’s calling all the shots for Disney storytelling.
As long as she’s in that role, she’ll keep churning out even more sticky content for Disney’s streaming services.
With Walden spinning the Disney Flywheel, the company’s prolonged content slump should end.
Nielsen Streaming Ratings
Wall Street Journal
Okay, now that I’ve finished gushing, here are the Nielsen Streaming Ratings for the week of January 5th-11th, 2026.
- Bluey – 941 million viewer minutes
- Homeland – 760 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 684 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 670 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 656 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order – 616 million viewer minutes
- Percy Jackson & The Olympians – 361 million viewer minutes
- TRON: Ares – 258 million viewer minutes
- Zootopia – 187 million viewer minutes
(Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
First, I’ll point out that five of the shows on that list are Dana Walden’s programs now dominating on streaming.
Second, I’ll mention that TRON: Ares continues to be a disaster in every way possible.
Photo: joblo.com
The third TRON film was available for five of the seven days from this ratings week.
So, Disney doesn’t even have the excuse of a limited timeframe for viewing.
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
People just didn’t want to watch it. Hopefully, under Walden, bad ideas like this one will get weeded out early.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: Hollywood Reporter PHOTOGRAPHED BY DIANA KING
