Disney appeared to drop a bomb on Netflix this week by asserting a $13-per-month bundle for all its streaming providers. When it launches on November 12, the package deal will embrace Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, all for a similar worth as Netflix’s hottest plan. (Disney+ will value $7 per thirty days by itself, whereas Hulu and ESPN+ will be priced at $6 per thirty days and $5 per thirty days respectively if bought individually.)
Reporters and analysts shortly forged the Disney+ bundle as an assault on Netflix, which is sensible on some degree. No two corporations fairly seize the conflict between outdated and new media like Disney versus Netflix, and each corporations will be competing for treasured time and cash within the age of cord-cutting.
Lost within the rivalry narrative, nevertheless, is that Disney+ and Netflix could have little in widespread. From pricing and packaging to promoting and the content material itself, the 2 corporations are taking reverse approaches to virtually each side of streaming video.
Different packaging
By design, every of Disney’s streaming providers targets a separate viewers, or a minimum of discrete tastes. Disney+ focuses on hit franchises with household enchantment, such because the Star Wars and Marvel franchises; Hulu is more for mature audiences, with collection like The Handmaid’s Tale; and ESPN+ is for diehard sports activities followers. It’s affordable to imagine that some individuals will go on Disney’s bundle deal and subscribe to whichever service finest aligns with their preferences.
Whereas Disney is providing some semblance of an a la carte service—with an enormous low cost for bundling all the things collectively—Netflix is more like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Although it doesn’t provide any sports activities content material, it tries to mix children exhibits, family-friendly fare, and mature programming into one bundle. Netflix’s worth tiers are as a substitute based mostly on video high quality and the variety of simultaneous streams a subscriber is allowed, and the corporate has mentioned that it’s dedicated to this flat-fee construction for the lengthy haul.
Different approaches to content material
The predominant points of interest for Disney+ are recognizable franchises and manufacturers, with content material from the Star Wars and Marvel universes, movies from Disney and Pixar, each episode of The Simpsons (due to its acquisition of 21st Century Fox), and content material from National Geographic Partners (ditto). Disney even introduced this week that it’s going to remake Home Alone for the service.
By distinction—and by necessity—Netflix is taking a different method. Since it may’t lean on a secure of historic franchises, it’s trying to construct up its personal by way of offers with big-name creators. The firm acquired comedian guide writer Millarworld two years in the past (with founder Mark Millar being praised as a “modern day Stan Lee” in Netflix’s press launch), and additionally purchased the rights to the Extreme Universe comics in hopes of getting its personal model of superheroes. Netflix has additionally introduced in TV creators corresponding to Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal) and…
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