CEO Bob Chapek Says “No Other Entertainment Company Can Touch” Disney’s Content

When you think of companies that seem to completely dominate their industry, there might not be a better example than Disney. In terms of movies, theme parks, and merchandise, it’s hard to think of another business that has seen as much success as The Walt Disney Company.

In 2019, Disney took the streaming world by storm with the launch of Disney+. This wasn’t the first time Disney dove into media beyond its classic movies, but it did represent a major shift in the industry as Disney claimed yet another top spot. But a few years after the debut of Disney+, can Disney really claim to be the BEST? CEO Bob Chapek certainly thinks so.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked about the possibility that Disney would sell ESPN to another company. He said, “We got a lot of inquiries […] from other entities.” However, Disney ultimately decided to keep ESPN. Chapek said, “[The number of inquiries] says something about the power of sport and the advertising business when you’ve got that large of an audience that has to watch it at that moment. News and sports are the only two things that you have to watch at that moment. So, if you happen to have a vision for the future that the rest of the world’s not necessarily in tune with yet, then you keep ESPN. ”

He went on to say that, with ESPN and the other media subsets that Disney owns, Disney has “a full complement of general entertainment, family news, sports that no other entertainment company can touch.”

Whereas some media companies may choose to specialize or focus on a certain audience, it seems true that Disney has a wide variety of platforms available. But the streaming world is hardly free of competition — let’s take a look at Disney’s current standings and success and see how that compares to their competitors.

Disney+ Is Growing

Disney+ didn’t necessarily get off to an easy start. It launched towards the end of 2019 — just months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And while that timing meant there were more people staying home with time to watch shows and movies, it also meant that production had to shut down on several Disney projects.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chapek said that Disney initially “dramatically underestimated the hungry beast [Disney+] and how much content it needed to be fed.” When COVID hit, the company was “completely constrained in terms of making new things.” That meant that very few things could be added to the platform in the first year or so, which isn’t necessarily good for promoting the new service.

Now, however, Chapek reports that “production is back fully and we have a full understanding of what’s needed.” Disney saw huge success with Encanto‘s release on Disney+ — even greater than the success they saw with that film’s theatrical release.

We’ve seen more Disney+ originals, such as the live-action Pinocchio, Hocus Pocus 2, and — most recently — the Marvel Halloween special Werewolf by Night. More is on the docket to come, and Disney+ seems to be in a good place currently.

Disney has reported that the number of Disney+ subscribers is continuing to grow. During the Q3 earnings call in August, a total of 152.1 million Disney+ subscribers was reported, which is up from 137.7 million in April of this year. That number represents a 31% increase from the same time last year, in 2021. This growth has exceeded what many analysts predicted for the streaming platform.

But Disney+ isn’t the only media platform that Disney owns — far from it. During the same earnings call, Disney reported a total of 221 million total subscriptions across all its streaming offerings, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

What Else Does Disney Own?

The success with Disney+ is notable, but that success is complemented by the popularity of Disney’s OTHER platforms. Some of those other platforms include ESPN (a major contributor), ABC, 21st Century Fox, National Geographic, and FX (which has shows like American Horror Story).

Disney also owns part of A&E, which includes part of Lifetime and the History Channel. And they own a majority of Hulu as well. Of course, they added Marvel and Lucasfilm to their collection a few years back, so you’ll find quite a bit of content from those franchises on Disney+ (Insider).

Looking at that list, it sounds like Chapek had a good point when he said that no other entertainment company comes close to the variety of entertainment that Disney provides. Kids, adults, older teens, sports fans, nature enthusiasts, history buffs — Disney really is reaching to access every possible audience with their content and platforms.

But are they the only ones successfully doing it?

How Does It Compare to Competitors?

Looking at Disney’s top competition in the streaming world, you’ll see companies like Comcast (which owns Universal), Time Warner, Netflix, and Amazon. Although each company provides some stiff competition in certain areas of streaming, it doesn’t really look like any can match the variety that Disney has achieved.

In terms of sports, Comcast owns NBC, which covers some NFL football games (including Sunday Night Football) and Notre Dame sports. Paramount owns CBS, which shows a lot of NFL games and some games from the college SEC league. (Although we have to note that ESPN has purchased the rights to all SEC team games, and that transfer will start in 2024.)

Warner Bros. owns TNT, which shows a lot of NBA games (more than ESPN typically does), and Amazon Prime can really only claim the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. Netflix does not show any live sports currently.

Comparatively, ESPN generally shows the most college football and college basketball games. They also have the rights to the NFL’s Monday Night Football, and they show some NBA games as well. Although ESPN seems to be the most common household name when it comes to watching sports, the actual use of each platform will depend on which teams you watch the most frequently. Disney seems to have some pretty fair competition when it comes to sports streaming.

Looking at streaming content for adults and older kids, Disney’s main platform is Hulu. Although many adults also enjoy the content on Disney+ (we absolutely watch animated Disney movies frequently, and you can’t count out Marvel and Star Wars content), Hulu has more content that’s created with an older audience in mind.

The biggest competition here is going to be Netflix and Amazon Prime. According to Statista, Netflix has approximately 220.67 million subscribers. Amazon Prime reported over 200 million subscribers around the world. While Disney has over 221 million subscribers across all platforms, it only reported 152.1 million subscribers on Disney+ and 46.2 million subscribers on Hulu.

Currently, it looks like Netflix is the winner when it comes to older viewers. But the next category is really Disney’s time to shine: younger audiences. We don’t have data on how many kids watch each streaming service, but we can look at the options available that are most likely to have content directed toward young viewers.

Disney+ has Disney’s classic movies and shows, including Pixar, Disney Junior, Disney Channel, Star Wars animated shows, and more. Other services don’t completely ignore this audience, though. Paramount Plus has a lot of Nickelodeon shows, like Spongebob, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, and others.

Netflix doesn’t have quite as many options for popular kids’ shows, although you can find some content on the platform for younger audiences. Discovery’s HBO Max has some DC animated shows, and PBS Kids is another popular option.

Putting all of this information together, it looks like the only place where Disney can declare a solid victory is when it comes to content for younger kids. What’s impressive, however, is that Disney is competing in all of the categories, whereas most other companies don’t provide options for all viewers. Its strength, then, is in variety rather than in a single area where they really dominate.

So is it true that no other entertainment company can touch Disney’s content? When it comes to variety and appealing to a lot of different audiences, it certainly looks that way. We’ll have to wait and see how the streaming wars play out with sports and older audiences, which is where Disney sees the most competition.

Keep following AllEars for more updates on the latest Disney news.

Click here to find out why Bob Chapek wants Disney to avoid “the m-word.”

Which streaming service do you prefer? Let us know in the comments!

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