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Disney+

David Zaslav bob Iger
Julia Alexander • May 14, 2024

The Disney+/Max Cable Fallacy

The new Bob Iger/David Zaslav streaming partnership has been compared, over and over again, to the halcyon days of the cable bundle. But those facile juxtapositions merely explain how little we really understand about the changes impacting the entertainment industry.
Julia Alexander • April 2, 2024
The Story of Disney+
bob iger
At the core of the current Disney proxy war is a battle to control the company’s streaming business. Herewith, a level-headed evaluation of the mistakes made, the lessons in success, and the most profitable path forward.
Matthew Belloni • December 15, 2023
The Netflix Radical Transparency Flex
Ted Sarandos arrives for the premiere of ‘Leo’ at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on November 19, 2023.
Is the new Engagement Report a historic data dump in the name of radical transparency, or a leverage-inducing display of the streamer’s dominance over the industry—a subtle attempt to regain negotiating power over the talent and streamers in town?
For all the money that Netflix spends on content—about $17 billion this year and counting—viewership still tends to agglomerate around the broadest, most populist fare.
Julia Alexander • December 12, 2023
Netflix’s Data Bomb & Iger’s Hulu Wish List
A talmudic reading of Netflix’s first-ever, hotly anticipated “What We’re Watching” report. Plus, an evaluation of what Disney+ needs from Hulu in their new streaming marriage.
Julia Alexander • August 15, 2023
Bob Iger’s Originals Sin
To pare its streaming losses, Disney plans to reduce spending, raise prices, crack down on password sharing, and produce less—less!—content. In an era of ruthless competition and franchise fatigue, Iger may be pushing the limits of what consumers will pay without getting something original in return.
Bob Iger, himself, said that companies tied to the linear and satellite businesses are in real trouble—but those pivoting to streaming aren’t in the clear, either.
Julia Alexander • July 18, 2023
The Iger Streaming Beta Blocker
Disney needs to both cut its losses and grow its appeal outside of its core franchises. Herewith, a few ideas for how Iger can turn things around.
Disney C.F.O. Christine McCarthy and C.E.O. Bob Iger and have told everyone for months that the content purge was coming, part of their increasingly frantic effort to erase $3 billion from the bottom line this year.
Matthew Belloni • May 21, 2023
Disney and the Great Streaming Purge
What’s going on at Disney is kind of nuts. If you told me that each of the Seven Dwarfs holding up the executive building in Burbank were being auctioned off to increase free cash flow, I’d probably believe it. Nearly every division has been asked to spend less, some way less. And titles are disappearing from Disney+ and Hulu as an entire industry retrenches.
In 2019, Bob Iger was openly wary of introducing too much general entertainment to Disney+, concerned that it would harm the “family brand.”
Julia Alexander • May 16, 2023
The Iger-Hulu Flip-Flop
When Bob Iger first ushered Disney into the streaming era, he prioritized the company’s historic brand over growth at all costs. Well, now it’s time for growth at all costs.
Shows like Game of Thrones and Euphoria are inseparable from the HBO brand. But they’re also more than that.
Julia Alexander • May 2, 2023
Streamer Report Cards, Part III: The Heavyweights
An insider assessment of the shows and strategies that Netflix, Disney+, and the soon-to-be-renamed Max should be developing to cultivate new audiences and grow their footprint.
streaming service heiarchy
Matthew Belloni • January 19, 2023
Puck’s Official Streaming Service Hierarchy
An original research study of what consumers actually feel about the top streamer brands, from Apple TV+ to Netflix and beyond.