EkaLore has released about the Alien Invasion where Disney has changed from a content creator for cable/sat TV networks (Disney Channel, ESPNs, PPV) to a direct-to-consumer business model with streaming subscription businesses focused around Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. Updates on Disney’s attainment of their Alien Invasion objectives follow.
EkaLore has written releases describing shifts in the traditional advertising models, social-media-based advertising volatility, and cross-subsidized content streamers. The likely results of all these changes are to increase the value of annuity-revenue subscribers in direct-to-consumer models. Advertisers buying on the wrong platforms/services or associating with non-optimal content will simply see their advertising costs be ineffective for brands, products, and services.
Disney has extreme strengths in global markets for proprietary content driving multiple revenue streams. Disney is partially converting to a direct-to-consumer business to distribute content as linear TV, DVR, and over-the-air broadcast models have fallen from consumer favor globally. Key global partners on cable, satellite, and media continue distributing content. This transformational business model change is an Alien Invasion into partners' turf and challenges their value propositions.
Disney+ is getting to its ambitious 2024 subscriber goals on schedule or earlier. Disney is leading the Alien Invasion with the most global subscribers as the champion of content leads market presence
Except for NetFlix, all of the streaming subscription services are losing money in net income. Here we consider paid subscriber counts as a surrogate for market power instead of trying to compare margins, ARPU, ad-supported only, and investment levels.
The global content streaming market is dominated by content providers driving direct-to-consumer models. Distribution (Amazon Prime, Roku, AppleTV, cable/sat, PPV, etc) still play roles with multiple models including free-with-ads, bundled/distribution, premium-without-ads, and other tiers. Branded content still drives value as consumers can identify desirable content (superheroes, live events, tv-format, specialty content, shopping, etc).
A key is consumer behavior (binging, concentrated views, long form) has moved away from ‘couch surfing’ and linear to on-demand/curated content (including YouTube, TikTok, music, and short form). Screen-time for gaming (consoles, Twitch, mobile, Steam) also reduces available linear viewers. Cost-effectiveness for advertising next to content is still continually reconsidered.
Consumer behavior of highly desirable viewer demographics is even more difficult to target as multiple-streams play concurrently in a household. The intense competition for ‘advertised-to’ eyeballs creates a high value for annuity-revenue streaming customers. Split advertising-supported tier consumers are not yet a dominant model for content. Consumers wanting to focus on content are willing to pay for not being advertised-to eyeballs.
The next post in the series will provide the information in table form to compare the different streaming platforms.
Read the next posts in the series at www.ekalore.com/alien-invaders
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