Disney+ launched in Denmark yesterday. By 6.45 AM I had it installed on 2 devices and our Apple TV at home. That’s how much I have been looking forward to the launch. And yes, I saw the first two episodes of “The Mandalorian”.
But aside from being a cool service in itself with an abundance of great content, Disney+ is also a big picture strategic masterstroke and a model to get inspired by for a lot of other companies.
Yes, they are late to the streaming game. But you could also say that they have had amble time to observe and learn from the competition and thus avoid the worst of the ‘early days’ diseases the firstmovers usually encounter.
On top of that the direct comparisons with Netflix, HBO and all the others are slightly flawed. Disney+ is so much more; it’s a direct avenue to increased merchandise sales and visits to their theme parks (where available and not taking into account the current Covid-19 restrictions, which – honestly – no one could have planned for).
The goal of Disney+ overall is not to win the streaming wars as I see it. It’s more of a clever way of driving awareness of and interest in the content universes themselves thus sparking increased demand for all the products sitting on shelves in retail stores, where Disney really makes their margins.
The price of 59 DKK per month – a little more than half of Netflix or HBO – supports this.
This is what Disney+ has that’s unique. Netflix doesn’t have that play, HBO doesn’t either and none of the other streaming players have it. Disney does. And it’s every bit as much a part of their core business model as the quality of their content is.
Having waited the streaming phenomenon out until there were some well established models that others have worked the kinks out of and THEN launch with the long tail of related products that no other player can match is a simple, beautiful strategic masterstroke you can only bow to.
It’s almost magic.
(Photo: Screenshot)