The future of Disney Plus is a confused mess | Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro wants the streaming platform to become a kind of everything app
Posted by PetyrDayne
The future of Disney Plus is a confused mess | Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro wants the streaming platform to become a kind of everything app
Posted by PetyrDayne
15 Comments
>Now, the plan seems to be a unification of Disney’s various applications — like My Disney Experience and Disney Cruise Line Navigator — that would turn Disney Plus into a one-stop shop for all things Disney. But a souped-up Disney Plus that also functions as a hub for information about upcoming theme park trips and cruises does not exactly sound like something that would be very enjoyable to use.
>What this does sound a lot like is Disney taking cues from other tech companies like Meta that have a history of juicing engagement on their various platforms by adding features that no one asked for. The idea of Disney Plus going this route calls to mind the way that Instagram became an overbloated, unintuitive platform as executives built Stories / Reels / Shopping features into it in order to keep people from jumping ship to other social media apps. Most of us can agree that this approach to boosting engagement led to a markedly worse user experience, but at the same time, it did keep users logging on.
>Like all major streamers, one of Disney Plus’ biggest goals is to keep its subscribers from leaving the platform. One of the ways Disney can realistically do that is to keep releasing new projects that people want to watch, but D’Amaro’s recent comments make it sound like we might soon see a Disney Plus that feels more like an overbusy, maze-like mall that’s designed to get people to spend money on things they weren’t even thinking about in the first place.
Yeah I noticed when I logged into ESPN (to get the videos to stop playing automatically), the login page was Disney. It was telling me that I was logging into Disney with no mention of espn. Once logged in, it went back to ESPN with no mention of Disney.
Whatever this garbage is, it ain’t gonna work.
Streaming is a luxury most people only had time and money for during a global pandemic where you couldn’t interact with anyone outside your household.
People working full-time, in-school, or just simply going out every day don’t have time.
Most of these services haven’t been profitable since Spring 2022 when most people mutually decided it was time to move on from social distancing.
if they stopped making shows and charged less per month for it, it could make lots of money
Maybe they should fix the login process first. Every device I use I have to reset the password because it claims it is not right. It is very frustrating. Has been happening for a long time and I’m only using it in my house.
Disney + is emblematic of the problem with the state of hollywood and its obsession with IP. You go yjere and click the star wars button or the marvel button for what you want.
I think they want to apply their T&C’s (Terms and Conditions) arbitration to EVERYTHING, simultaneously.
A couple years ago, [Disney World tried to get a widower’s wrongful death lawsuit tossed by pointing to the fine print of a Disney+ trial the deceased had signed up for years earlier](https://www.npr.org/2024/08/14/nx-s1-5074830/disney-wrongful-death-lawsuit-disney).
Now they can pre-emptively have immunity from lawsuits and force arbitration agreements over every entity simultaneously whenever you click on any of their T&C’s anywhere.
“We want it to be a kind of everything app.”
Translation: We have no idea how to grow further besides losing the original purpose of the app.
This seems to happen at so many companies. There is unrealized revenue out there and they need to capture it. So instead of focusing on your core competencies as a business you spread yourself thin and provide a bunch of half asses products.
I’m all for integration that makes sense, but… this doesn’t seem to.
The park experience doesn’t overlap with the Disney+ experience at all. Nor do I want them to try to integrate shopping or other things with it.
I’d be happy with some light integration maybe… a place to click from one app to the other in the *spots where it made sense* but… otherwise I’m not all that interested.
To be honest – the park/resort app itself is already a bit complicated, I’d love to see a redesign there, not see some way to make it MORE complicated by jamming in other features!
This is why you don’t make the head of parks your CEO.
So fucking TIRED OF THIS SHIT.
It makes sense to have this version in theme park hotels and on the cruise ships. Seems off putting to bake it all into an app everyone will use everyday.
Is he friends with Elon?
They literally own so much they don’t know what to do. Amazing