Disney’s Streaming Division, in 2022’s end-of-fiscal year quarter, famously lost $1.5 Billion, led by losses due to Disney+. In their first quarter of the fiscal year 2023, they lowered the losses but still lost a massive $1.1 Billion. So many people will be thinking, “What Does This Mean For Disney+ and Its Content?”

More Focus On Well-Known IP:

Let’s start with an obvious one, Disney+ has aired quite a few shows and movies since it launched in 2019 and while quite a few of them, like “Big Shot”, “Intertwined”, “Weekend Family”, and “Diary Of A Future President” were original IPs which in a lot of peoples eyes underperformed when compared to an onslaught of shows based on the Star Wars and Marvel franchises. However, even new content from pre-established franchises is risky now as the Star Wars series “Andor” and Marvel series “Ms Marvel” underperformed when compared to other shows within their franchises like “The Mandalorian” and “Loki”.

Fewer Shows and Smaller Budgets:

Let’s look at another big thing Disney+ will do to help cut losses, lower budgets, and make fewer shows. Now outside the US, there may not be as much of a shift as many Hulu, ABC, and 20th Television productions are released on Disney+ anyway via their “Star” hub. As I mentioned in the paragraph above, Disney is more likely to focus on more well-known IPs, make fewer shows, and try to lower the budgets of the shows and movies they produce.

More Movies May Move To Theatrical:

Disney+ has put out several great original films since its launch with some notable films including “Pinocchio”, “Togo”, “Clouds” and “Noelle”. During the pandemic, Disney dumped several of their Pixar movies as well as a few other films from their other studios, but I feel like we could see some of their Disney+ Original Films getting the shift to theatrical. Films I think Disney could shift from Disney+ to theatrical include “Crater”, “Peter Pan and Wendy”, and “Sister Act 3”.

Fewer Legacy Titles Added To The Service:

This is a point that will be argued by several people, but I want to discuss this point anyway. Legacy content on Disney+ has been a weird phenomenon. Some titles like “Bear In The Big Blue House” popped onto trending in territories like the UK and the US for a couple of days other series like “Zorro” didn’t pop into the trending tab. With classic television and movie content, there is a group of residuals that need to be paid for music rights and actor royalties, as well as making sure the content is a high enough visual quality to add to the service.

More Cancellations:

This is an obvious point that will come to fruition soon. Disney is more likely to cancel more series that are currently airing on Disney+; we’ve already seen Disney cancel series like “The Right Stuff” and “Diary Of A Future President” in the past week; we’ve seen, “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” and “Big Shot” added to the list. Disney will most probably axe currently airing series or series that are up for renewal if they cost more to produce than they are bringing in from subscriptions and advertising.

More Removals:

This point is one that Disney will hopefully not do or if they do it not to a significant extent. The removal of content from streaming services means that Disney will not have to pay residuals to those involved with those series or movies. However, it is usually series that are removed after cancellation and less than stellar viewership. Some notable titles that were removed from countries like the UK include “Queens” and “Rebel”, both of which were Star Originals in the UK and aired on ABC in the US. I do hope Disney avoids going down this route, but anything is possible as Disney searches for streaming profits.

Final Thoughts:

The cut-and-dry of this article is to explain some of the things we could see The Walt Disney Company do as they push to make Disney+ break even in 2023 and into profitability. Many people may not be pleased with some of the ideas on this list, like “More Cancellations” or “More Removals”  you need to take a step back and understand that despite Disney being a multi-billion dollar company even they can’t continue to lose billions of dollars per year on streaming, they need streaming to become profitable to keep funding new content.

Ethan Holloway

Ethan is an autistic, type one diabetic, Disney fan who grew up with properties like Iron Man, The Lion King, Aladdin and Toy Story. Ethan wants to someday get his own books/films/TV shows made to inspire those with disabilities to be themselves, but for now, Ethan covers his opinions on Disney, their content and how Disney+ can improve.

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