Disney CFO Reveals International Plans For Disney+
As Disney+ continues to grow internationally, with the global streaming service available in over 130 countries, one of the strategies to do this, is by creating local original programming.
Over the years, we’ve seen original shows from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific regions, with hit shows such as “Rivals”, “Moving” and “Twisted Wonderland”, arriving on Hulu and Disney+.
This week, Disney’s Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Hugh Johnston, took part in a question-and-answer session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. During this session, Hugh was asked about how they are working to increase Disney+ usage internationally, to which Hugh replied:
We’ve really built it over the course of the last couple of years. We’ve got new teams in Europe. We’ve got new teams in LatAm. We actually have new teams in Canada. And we’ve really kind of built up the capability both in terms of getting content created, but then in addition to that, marketing that content and getting it produced such that we could really take advantage of the opportunity that we see internationally. Now we’re not going to do that by just trying to sort of spend money all over the world. We’re fairly focused on how we’re looking to do that. In particular, I’ll mention a couple of markets.
Japan and Korea, we expect to focus on, particularly with Japanese anime and with Korean dramas, where we’ve been very, very successful. Latin America, we’ll be leaning heavily into reality, into sports TV and then, of course, the Telenovelas that are so popular down in Latin America. And then last but not least, in Europe, we’ll be doing a fair amount in general entertainment, both scripted and unscripted, primarily focused on Western Europe. So put all of that together, what we’re really doing is the Disney content actually plays very well as tentpoles internationally. So when we launch a big movie, we clearly get a surge in demand, but then you do get some churning out. By virtue of filling in with international content, we’ll stop the gaps between the tentpoles such that we retain and we maintain the penetration that we’ve achieved with the tentpoles.
Roger’s Take: It’s become very obvious in the past couple of years that Disney is prioritising its local content, with its focus on countries that make it more money and perform well globally. Korean Dramas have been a huge success for Disney, with Japanese Anime also working well as part of its global original program. British shows also have the advantage of being popular in other English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia, extending their reach beyond the local audience.
Appealing to those local audiences is vital for Disney+ to not just grow, but maintain customers, as international audiences do enjoy U.S.-made films and shows, but they also want other stories to be told and other cultures, especially their own, to be featured. We’ve also seen Disney leaning in more on licensing local content for individual regions, such as Disney’s deal with ITV in the UK, as that also extends how much localised content is available to subscribers.
While Hugh’s comments are great to highlight Disney’s investment in local programming, many countries offer financial incentives to film, and many regions are also now implementing rules on streaming services, requiring them to invest a percentage of their revenue into local programming to protect their own entertainment industry and maintain culture being represented on our screens. As global streaming services like Disney+ continue to grow, they are likely to be forced to invest more and more in local content, so Disney is looking to embrace that and make the most of it, such as producing more shows that appeal to a global audience.
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