Why The Disney+ Content Removals Could Be A Good Thing
Now this is going to be a controversial topic. A few weeks back, Disney removed over a hundred originals from Disney+ and Hulu globally; despite many fans being dishearted by the news, I want to discuss why this is a good thing for Disney+ and subscribers. So let me begin.
Weeding Out Less Popular Content:
Let’s start with something obvious. There is too much content being made by companies like Disney, and well, not all of it becomes successful. If a series doesn’t perform well enough to make up costs as well as pay out royalties over time, then that piece of content isn’t as valuable as you’d first think. Now I don’t doubt shows like “Big Shot” and movies like “Magic Camp” did connect with an audience. However, they were clearly not the smash hit successes that Disney was expecting, so it made sense to remove them as they weren’t as popular and still had royalties that needed to be paid out.
Focusing On Successful Content:
Now there was a bit of backlash from some fans on social media who thought the news of Disney+ removing content meant things like the Marvel “Defenders” shows or “Logan” were going to get removed. Fun fact they didn’t. The content Disney removed was primarily originals, and of those originals, they weren’t major hits like “The Mandalorian” or “Loki” etc. they were primarily shows that didn’t even crack the Nielsen streaming charts.
Most Of The Removals Were Already Cancelled:
Let’s also look at the major point, which I feel was the huge driver behind why certain shows were removed. They were already cancelled and weren’t going to get continuations. Globally some of the notable removes included “Little Demon”, “Big Shot”, “Diary Of A Future President” and “Willow”. All the shows I just listed had already been slashed by the cancellation axe. The problem with keeping cancelled shows on streaming services is the fact that those streamers tend to get bad reputations for axing so many series, look at Netflix’s reputation of “cancelling everything after one season”. Another negative is the fact since the show is cancelled, fewer people will actively search for the show as it most likely does not have a satisfying conclusion as it was cancelled and didn’t “run its course”.
Final Thoughts:
To me, it makes sense for Disney+ to follow the trend that Netflix started back in 2007 by having a rotating content library. When it comes to the original content, I will argue that removing original films like “Clouds” is more damaging to Disney+ than removing series like “Willow” as the film “Clouds” was designed to be a one-off biopic whilst “Willow” was designed to be a long-running fantasy TV series. The problem people have with Disney+ when compared to other streamers like Netflix is that Disney+ doesn’t tend to announce when content is leaving, as well as a majority of the content on Disney+ is Disney-owned (a few exceptions include Bluey, Dion Ranch, etc.), unlike Netflix where a majority of its content is licensed from third parties.
Hopefully, long term, this decision by Disney will lead to a better and more varied lineup of Disney+ Original shows that last for longer than one or two seasons.
What Do You Think? Is Disney+’s Content Removals A Good Thing In Your Eyes? Let us know on social media!
