Iger: Disney Will Consider Licensing Content, But Marvel, Star Wars Will Stay In-House
If you were hoping that the February news that Disney was open to licensing its content out to other streaming services meant that you might get a Star Wars or Marvel show on a platform other than Disney+, those hopes were dashed this week.
CEO Bob Iger spoke about those plans, and the company’s current place in the streaming market, at Disney’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Monday. Iger acknowledged that Disney is in a different place now than it was in the late 2010s when it was preparing to launch its flagship streamer, and needed to reclaim its streaming rights to build up that platform.
“In order to achieve the goal of getting into the streaming business very successfully, we felt we had to take control back of the content that we had licensed to third parties,” the CEO said. “At that point, most of it was going to Netflix and we actually enjoyed a good relationship with them over the time when we licensed content to them. But we licensed very valuable content, content that we felt we absolutely needed.”
At the time, the strategy was highly successful. Disney+ exploded out of the gate, accruing 10 million customers in its first 24 hours, and over 100 million in just 16 months. But like the rest of the streaming industry at the time, Disney was more focused on amassing new users than it was on monetizing those users. Now the bill for those tactics has come due and the company is trying to reckon with quarterly streaming losses that still exceed $1 billion.
That’s where the licensing of content comes in. Iger reiterated that the company will be considering the licensure of some of its content to other platforms in the name of pushing its streaming efforts into the black, but he made it clear that the most popular titles and franchises aren’t going anywhere.
“We’re proud of our track record, though we recognize we have challenges ahead of us, namely to get to profitability,” Iger said. “We’re not looking to license our core Marvel, Disney, Pixar, or Star Wars product to third parties. We will consider on occasion licensing other product to third parties.”
Indeed, the company will make every effort to build those popular franchises even further. Iger mentioned Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar specifically when he spoke earlier this year about the company’s desire to lean further into its franchises, for both theatrical and streaming releases.
Content licensing is not the only path to streaming profitability currently under consideration at the House of Mouse. The company is also planning to execute a pullback on general entertainment, which could have dramastic implications for Hulu, whose central focus is on general entertainment. The pullback could even include a sale of Disney’s majority stake in the streamer, though the company has been careful to note that it is considering every possible avenue.
There are more blockbuster films headed to Disney+ that should help reverse its first-ever recorded subscriber losses from last quarter. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is available for digital purchase on Prime Video and other transactional video platforms, and is likely headed to Disney+ within the next couple of months. That service will also cohost — with Hulu — the debut of “Flamin’ Hot,” a new movie from director Eva Longoria that chronicles the rise of one of America’s favorite snacks.
Judging from Iger’s comments at the shareholder’s meeting, there will definitely be more news about Disney licensing content to come. But the company clearly has no interest in selling the rights to its most popular IPs, so third-party streamers will have to look elsewhere in the Disney catalog.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”