Earthquake in the small world of Hollywood. Disney today announced plans to break its partnership with Netflix. The firm with big ears would take the opportunity to create its own streaming platform.
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney announced the group's new top priority this morning. Disney will create its own streaming service to cope with the decline in the number of subscribers on channels owned by the company (ABC, ESPN). This will also aim to compete with the Netflix platform, which in terms of content has become one of the major competitors of the Hollywood majors, including Disney. The cost of this operation would exceed one billion dollars.
Disney is therefore apparently trying to starve the beast. Indeed, Netflix benefits greatly from content owned by Disney, if only with Marvel series like Daredevil. The firm with big ears considers that Netflix has an impact on the decline in the audience of its cable channels, which are non-negligible sources of revenue for Disney.
Regarding content, Marvel and LucasFilm productions (such as Star Wars Rebel) would remain available on Netflix for the moment. Regarding productions stamped Disney and Pixar, it would be removed from the Netflix catalog. Disney announces the creation of original content in order to provide its content service.
We can be skeptical about making an SVOD platform composed solely of Disney productions. As for Netflix, they seem to have foreseen this upheaval by having announced a few days before the production of many Japanese anime, including a new version of Saint-Seya. Netflix also announced the day before the acquisition of Millar's World, the universe of comics created by author Mark Millar, including comics like Kingsman, Kick-Ass, Wanted, American Jesus … (the first two cities will not be adapted on Netflix, however, since their rights belong to other studios).
However, by creating a streaming platform dedicated to sports through ESPN, Disney has the opportunity to get a platform that will revolutionize the industry, knowing the importance of the channel for Americans and the importance of the content available through this channel.
While one can be skeptical about some aspects of this breakup, it may prove to be a major asset for Disney, although we cannot yet predict the repercussions of this significant change. Case to follow very closely…
