Disney vs. Netflix: The streaming service battle
Over the last handful of decades, media has overtaken much of our lives and television has become a vital part of our culture. One form of media that has taken the world by storm is streaming service. Binge-watching did not exist before streaming services came into existence. Now, it is one of the most popular ways to watch television.
When Netflix first launched in 1997, no one imagined that the company would become one of the world’s largest streaming services operating in 190 countries with over 117 million paying subscribers (Minaya & Sharma, 2016; Netflix, 2018). However, these numbers may begin to drop as a new competitor enters the scene.
That’s right! The Walt Disney Company finally decided to show up to the streaming service party by launching its own streaming service by the end of 2019 (Wang, 2018). The company will be pulling all its content off Netflix during the same year which means, Netflix must prepare to say goodbye to all of Disney’s original movies and television shows along with other content that the Disney franchise owns such as the Star Wars and Marvel movies.
Since Disney announced that it would launch its own streaming service, the idea has been met with mixed feelings. To help you decide whether or not you like the idea and will be willing to purchase this service when it becomes available, here is a list of pros and cons of Disney’s upcoming streaming service.
Pro
The Disney streaming service will not only offer old favorites, but will launch five new televisions series and five new original movies within the services first year (Vena, 2018).
Con
Disney owns many other media companies, and not all of them fit the family friendly model that Disney portrays. All of Disney-owned content for grownups will be provided on Hulu (Vena, 2018). So, if you already have and love your Netflix account, but want access to all your favorite Disney movies and Disney adult content, you will need a subscription to Netflix, Hulu, and Disney’s services which could become very costly.
Pro
Speaking of price, Disney lovers will gain access to nothing but pure Disney family friendly content for a cost that will be substantially lower per month than the cost of Netflix.
Con
However, CEO, Bob Iger, announced that the reason the cost will start so low is because there will only be 500 movies and 7,000 episodes of television shows on the service to start (Libbey, 2017). That may sound like a lot, but is nothing compared to the 6,494 movies and 1,609 television shows on Netflix (Luckerson, 2016). Overtime, as Disney adds more content to the service, the price will go up.
Pro
Disney is known for producing high quality work. Whether you prefer the classics or newer content, Disney continues to produce hit after hit of quality work. For example, Black Panther, which came out earlier this year, is now the 10th highest grossing film of all time (Hughes, 2018). Additionally, Disney now claims seven of the top 11 spots on the all-time highest grossing domestic box office list. And, Disney still has three highly anticipated films coming out within the next few months: The Incredibles 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and the newest Star Wars Story, Solo.
Challenging a streaming giant like Netflix is no small task, but a corporation the size of Disney may have the resources to pull it off. The company has a way of drawing audiences in and getting them caught up in the magic of Disney.
- Alli Williams ’19
References
Hughes, M. (2018). ‘Black Panther’ is now the 10thhighest grossing film of all time. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2018/04/02/black-panther-is-now-the-10th-highest-grossing-film-of-all-time/#3a32b6316a40
Libbey, D. (2017). How much will Disney’s streaming service cost? Here’s what Bob Iger says. Retrieved from https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1723840/how-much-will-disneys-streaming-service-cost-heres-what-bob-iger-says
Luckerson, V. (2016). The number of movies on Netflix is dropping fast. Retrieved from http://time.com/4272360/the-number-of-movies-on-netflix-is-dropping-fast/
Minaya, E., & Sharma, A. (2016). Netflix expands to 190 countries. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflix-expands-to-190-countries-1452106429
Netflix. (2018). Letter to shareholders. Retrieved from https://ir.netflix.com/static-files/0c060a3f-d903-4eb9-bde6-bf3e58761712
Vena, D. (2018). We now know how Disney will package its streaming service. Retrieved from https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/03/25/we-now-know-how-disney-will-package-its-streaming.aspx
Wang, C. (2018). Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars: CEO Bob Iger says Disney’s streaming service will be able to compete with Netflix. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/disney-marvel-pixar-star-wars-ceo-bob-iger-says-disneys-streaming-service-will-be-able-to-compete-with-netflix.html