<
https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-kid-problem-cable-tv-decline-disney-channel-watching-youtube-2024-7>
'When Bob Iger returned to Disney in late 2022 for his second tour as CEO, the
company was in dire straits. It had just reported poor earnings, was scrambling
from unpopular business moves, and was left reeling from previous CEO Bob
Chapek's bad press.
Just a year later, Iger began to put the Mouse House back in order: He
delivered a strong earnings report in February, announced partnerships with
Epic Games and Taylor Swift, and trumpeted a sports streaming platform. "We
have entered a new era," Iger effused to investors during his February earnings
call, a nod to the news that Swift's "Eras Tour" film would stream exclusively
on Disney+. In response, the company's stock price got a much-needed boost, and
investors rejected a public challenge by the activist investor Nelson Peltz to
exert control over the company.
Investors' celebration, however, was short-lived. Amid the declining TV
business, dismal box-office numbers, and the need to name a successor, Iger
continues to face significant problems. Perhaps most concerning of all: Disney
is losing its monopoly on kids.
The Disney Channel, once a gateway to all things Disney, plummeted from a
top-10 network with nearly 2 million average daily primetime viewers in 2014 to
No. 80 with a measly 132,000 in 2023. Kids are now getting their TV fix on
streaming, which accounts for two-thirds of TV watch time for children 2 to 11,
per Nielsen estimates. There, YouTube has become king. Kids increasingly prefer
to zone out for hours watching free short-form videos instead of full-length TV
episodes and movies. In April, Nielsen estimated, kids 2 to 11 watched three
times as much YouTube as Disney+ content. Meanwhile, Disney said in 2022 that
over 60% of Disney+ subscribers were adults without kids at home.'
Via
Garbage Day: Yet another new, darker era
https://www.garbageday.email/p/yet-another-new-darker-era
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
