Disney Plus’ Marketing Strategies for 2022
Disney officially released their very own streaming service ‘Disney Plus’ on the 12th of November 2019 and hit the UK on March 24th 2020.
They noticed that streaming platforms were becoming rapidly more popular than going to the cinema, watching TV, or watching films on a DVD player. However, just starting they had immense competition around the globe, from global giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to national companies such as Hulu and Now TV all to overtake to become the best, mirroring their mission statement which is to ‘be at the forefront of family entertainment’.
On the other hand, Disney is a multinational entertainment and media conglomerate, having a current market cap of 238.9 billion dollars, being ranked 66th in the fortune 500 (the 500 largest companies in the US compiled every year), compared to Amazon is ranked 2nd and Netflix down in 484th. So, Disney’s funds available for investment into a new endeavour are much bigger than Netflix’s, but also much lower than Amazon’s, however, Netflix is solely focused on their streaming platform, unlike the others.
Disney has been smart over the last few years by investing in other companies, as they have bought companies like Pixar and the rights to global film franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars, so when it comes to streaming these, they have a great sense of exclusivity and can thus help them create a more price inelastic product.
As Netflix have their films and tv series under the category of ‘Netflix Originals’ which are exclusive to their platform, Disney has utilised their uniquely owned franchises to create series’ such as ‘The Mandalorian’ (Star Wars) and very recently ‘Moon Knight’ (Marvel) and The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (Ice Age from Blue Sky Studios) which people cannot watch anywhere else, offers a great incentive for signups. This links well to their marketing strategy, which is heavily based on storytelling, so most of their marketing activities are centred around the story development of these franchises.
In terms of pricing, Disney Plus ranks around the average of top global streaming services, sitting at £7.99 a month, the same as Amazon Prime Video and cheaper than the ‘standard’ and most popular Netflix subscription which is £10.99. This is advantageous for Disney as they can have a penetrative pricing technique for their entry into the market, and as they cultivate a global audience for their product, they can slowly increase their price, as they have done by £1 a month since they released their product. They can have a cheaper price for now as they are extremely profitable in other areas of their business, such as their parks in Orlando and Paris, these and their other extensive operations are extremely beneficial to them as they have said that they are expecting profitability for Disney Plus in 2022, three years since release, which other new streaming platform start-ups would be unable to do.
There is a common perception that Disney is ‘for kids’ and would hence only target a younger audience. As much as this is true as they have the highest viewership of any streaming platform for the 2-17 age range, even including YouTube, however, they do cater to nearly every age range in terms of streaming content. They have as expected all films for children from Disney and Pixar, but also have content for other demographics; they have an archive of family favourites like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad but they have also recently released ‘Star’ which is a subsection which has nearly doubled the films and shows on the site, more specified towards adults, with shows such as The Walking Dead, Greys Anatomy and 24. This vividly displays Disney’s willingness to enter and penetrate all possible markets to rival its competitors in the same field.
Disney Plus’ latest 2022 marketing campaign, both online and offline, certainly cements this idea. The strapline is ‘Stories You’d Expect + Stories You Wouldn’t’ which again confirms the fact that as much as they are conforming to their stereotype of kids shows per se, they are providing content for many other demographics which has helped them become the fastest growing streaming service on the market. They also placed some subtle branding, as instead of saying ‘and’ or the more commonly used symbol ‘&’ in this advertising strapline, they opted for a ‘+’ which links to their ‘Plus’ branding and reinforces their brand identity. It also links to their overall marketing strategy of ‘Storytelling’ as ‘stories’ are mentioned twice.
Along with nearly all global companies, Disney is moving into the web 3 sphere, as they partnered with ‘VeVe’ to release a collection of collectable NFTs on ‘Disney Day’ 2021 (November 12th), which allowed fans to purchase ‘digital statues inspired by beloved stories and moments from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and more.’ As part of the promotion, they also offered every customer (in select markets) a three- or twelve-month free subscription to Disney Plus. This is a great revenue source to further expand Disney’s operations and profitability and is also a good way to market to a new audience and offer exclusivity to customers.
In terms of the future, to try and overtake their biggest rivals and industry leader Netflix; Disney needs to continue down the path of constant innovation in terms of web 3 which will cause ripples as industry firsts in this sphere. They also need to keep developing the stories of the franchises they have bought into, as they have global pre-determined audiences that will anticipate and love the opportunity to view any related content, just like the latest trailer in the Star Wars franchise, the new ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ teaser trailer has amassed over 15 million views in less than three weeks. It is a sure-fire tactic to keep and cultivate their global audience. The final way they should be trying to grow is by diversifying the content they provide to attract many different demographics, like the ‘Star’ content hub.
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