Disney's Financial Problems

[yensid1967]

I have been seeing all the problems that TWDC is having and through it all it seems that the problem segment of the company is Disney+ service. It seems they don't want to admit that the streaming service is the elephant in the room! It is reported not making profit for the company, with the Parks segment carrying the weight! Why don't they just admit it and start over to something that would be a money maker for the company!? Why not come out with a Disney Movie channel where all the videos that were in the vault are accessible through a paid subscription ala carte? Some money is better than nothing!
By ala carte, I mean say I want to watch Bambi, I would go to The Disney Movie Channel, search and find and then pay a separate price just to watch Bambi and I have a 3 day rental! The Disney Movie Vault(channel) would be separate from a subscription...it would be more like Blockbuster Video Store where you would "RENT" each movie you want with each rental being a 3 day rental. This way with a 3 day rental, they could charge $10-$20 for each movie for 3 days!
I dunno if this could work, buy it seems the Disney+ streaming is losing money and only being helped by the parks and entertainment segment of the company! Why aren't the shareholders complaining about the failure of Disney+!?

But I KNOW part of their financial problems are stemming from the high, outstanding park admission price that most cannot afford, that why the parks are low in attendance nowadays

 

[FutureCEO]

I totally feel bad for a multi billion dollar company

 

[eliza61nyc]

I have been seeing all the problems that TWDC is having and through it all it seems that the problem segment of the company is Disney+ service. It seems they don't want to admit that the streaming service is the elephant in the room! It is reported not making profit for the company, with the Parks segment carrying the weight! Why don't they just admit it and start over to something that would be a money maker for the company!? Why not come out with a Disney Movie channel where all the videos that were in the vault are accessible through a paid subscription ala carte? Some money is better than nothing!
By ala carte, I mean say I want to watch Bambi, I would go to The Disney Movie Channel, search and find and then pay a separate price just to watch Bambi and I have a 3 day rental! The Disney Movie Vault(channel) would be separate from a subscription...it would be more like Blockbuster Video Store where you would "RENT" each movie you want with each rental being a 3 day rental. This way with a 3 day rental, they could charge $10-$20 for each movie for 3 days!
I dunno if this could work, buy it seems the Disney+ streaming is losing money and only being helped by the parks and entertainment segment of the company! Why aren't the shareholders complaining about the failure of Disney+!?

But I KNOW part of their financial problems are stemming from the high, outstanding park admission price that most cannot afford, that why the parks are low in attendance nowadays

So if the reasons for their financial situation is high prices the market will take care of it.
Why companies do the things they do is anyone's guess? I'm not an Uber fan so I've got no horse on this race.

Now I dont get why everyone is freaking out over low crowds? Weren't people previously complaining about over crowding. Personally I'm slap happy attendance is dropping, yep I've got 2 upcoming trips and low crowds will definitely make us happy.

 

[flynnibus]

I have been seeing all the problems that TWDC is having and through it all it seems that the problem segment of the company is Disney+ service. It seems they don't want to admit that the streaming service is the elephant in the room! It is reported not making profit for the company, with the Parks segment carrying the weight!

Let's look at this another way...

You currently own a huge army of products that generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for you. But, the market for those products is going away. What do you do?

do you
A) Just ride it out and take what money you an get...
or
B) Start working to take what is valuable from your current products and rework it into something that WON'T be dying in the upcoming years?

If you are the caretaker for billions in assets... what do you think people will expect you to do? Just do nothing, or try to come up with the new business strategy of how to leverage those assets and replace the money that is going away?

So... back to right now. If not D+, then what? Just wait for linear TV to shrivel up and die? Should they wait until they are so far behind it takes them years again to catch up to their competition?

By ala carte, I mean say I want to watch Bambi, I would go to The Disney Movie Channel, search and find and then pay a separate price just to watch Bambi and I have a 3 day rental! The Disney Movie Vault(channel) would be separate from a subscription...it would be more like Blockbuster Video Store where you would "RENT" each movie you want with each rental being a 3 day rental. This way with a 3 day rental, they could charge $10-$20 for each movie for 3 days!

For the same reason EVERYONE is trying to turn stuff into subscriptions now. They make more money as a whole by having you locked in month to month than they do selling you ala carte. Plus, it makes more predictable forecasting.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

The concept behind Disney+, and many of the other subscription services, is that they have to spend money to make money. If all signs pointed to a loss in money over the long term, then Disney would not hesitate to “take it behind the barn and shoot it”. The thing is, while it is a money pit as of now, there is some promise of making money in the future. That promise of money, according to their financial analysts and advisors, outweighs whatever investment they have to put in today.


Personally, I do have my doubts on whether Disney+ can make large sums of money. I do think it can be profitable, but I do not know if the return on investment is enough. My doubts largely stem from the fact that the over-saturation of the subscription streaming market will lead to each company cannibalizing each other to a point that the model will need to be changed for all to become profitable.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

Let's look at this another way...

You currently own a huge army of products that generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for you. But, the market for those products is going away. What do you do?

do you
A) Just ride it out and take what money you an get...
or
B) Start working to take what is valuable from your current products and rework it into something that WON'T be dying in the upcoming years?

If you are the caretaker for billions in assets... what do you think people will expect you to do? Just do nothing, or try to come up with the new business strategy of how to leverage those assets and replace the money that is going away?

So... back to right now. If not D+, then what? Just wait for linear TV to shrivel up and die? Should they wait until they are so far behind it takes them years again to catch up to their competition?




For the same reason EVERYONE is trying to turn stuff into subscriptions now. They make more money as a whole by having you locked in month to month than they do selling you ala carte. Plus, it makes more predictable forecasting.

And I will add, many businesses lose money before they end up making money. Take Amazon for example! They lost money for years but now make significant revenue!

It’s a risky investment, but it isn’t that high risk. If streaming was not a promising investment, not as many companies would be joining in. It’s better to build up your subscriber count and be early to the game than wait for your competition to test the water and possibly take a large portion of the market share (and perhaps the water is tested well enough already, and Disney jumped in at just the right time. Who knows?).

 

[AndyS2992]

I have been seeing all the problems that TWDC is having and through it all it seems that the problem segment of the company is Disney+ service. It seems they don't want to admit that the streaming service is the elephant in the room! It is reported not making profit for the company, with the Parks segment carrying the weight! Why don't they just admit it and start over to something that would be a money maker for the company!? Why not come out with a Disney Movie channel where all the videos that were in the vault are accessible through a paid subscription ala carte? Some money is better than nothing!
By ala carte, I mean say I want to watch Bambi, I would go to The Disney Movie Channel, search and find and then pay a separate price just to watch Bambi and I have a 3 day rental! The Disney Movie Vault(channel) would be separate from a subscription...it would be more like Blockbuster Video Store where you would "RENT" each movie you want with each rental being a 3 day rental. This way with a 3 day rental, they could charge $10-$20 for each movie for 3 days!
I dunno if this could work, buy it seems the Disney+ streaming is losing money and only being helped by the parks and entertainment segment of the company! Why aren't the shareholders complaining about the failure of Disney+!?

But I KNOW part of their financial problems are stemming from the high, outstanding park admission price that most cannot afford, that why the parks are low in attendance nowadays

All the ideas you have pitched have already been tried by Disney.

On YouTube, Disney offers their movies for purchase or rent. Here's Bambi for example:


£3.49 to rent or £13.99 to purchase as a digital copy.

You used to be able to do it through Amazon Video too.

Might as well just buy the DVD/Blu ray, or you know, get a £7 single month Disney+ membership and get the entire Disney library.

 

[LeighM]

I think Disney+ can be profitable but it seems like they keep circling back to bad decisions. I don't really understand it. Everyone I know has Disney+ and got it when it was more affordable. But then they started all of these price increases and now more people are canceling it. They're losing customers because of it but then raising the prices to make up the difference, another round of cancellations and then price increases. If they only showed their movies and old cartoons, it would be better than some of the newer shows they're producing for the channel. I'm glad they're slowing down on the Marvel and Star Wars because those big budget shows got to be too much. I hope they find a formula that actually works.

 

[erasure fan1]

Personally I'm slap happy attendance is dropping, yep I've got 2 upcoming trips and low crowds will definitely make us happy.

Until Disney makes more staff cuts, reduces hours, eliminates entertainment, reduces ride capacity... to make up the loss. Then it's not so happy.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

And I will add, many businesses lose money before they end up making money. Take Amazon for example! They lost money for years but now make significant revenue!

It’s a risky investment, but it isn’t that high risk. If streaming was not a promising investment, not as many companies would be joining in. It’s better to build up your subscriber count and be early to the game than wait for your competition to test the water and possibly take a large portion of the market share (and perhaps the water is tested well enough already, and Disney jumped in at just the right time. Who knows?).

This is how I feel also, it’s too early to tell if it’ll succeed or not. It’s a relatively new business and they’re still making changes and adjusting to it, 5 years from now it could be gone or their new cash cow. Too early to tell.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Until Disney makes more staff cuts, reduces hours, eliminates entertainment, reduces ride capacity... to make up the loss. Then it's not so happy.

Always that chance. I'll be there in 15 days, let you know

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Now I dont get why everyone is freaking out over low crowds? Weren't people previously complaining about over crowding. Personally I'm slap happy attendance is dropping, yep I've got 2 upcoming trips and low crowds will definitely make us happy.

Park fans tend to not understand the dynamics of how their favorite product works…

Sure…everyone likes a low crowd. Who wouldn’t?

But that ain’t how it works. Parks business generates a large chunk of the the overall revenue and an even larger chunk of their profits. So is it reasonable to think they’ll generate more billions per quarter with less rooms and tickets bought? By people riding space mountain.
Of course not…

So the “less crowds” is really a unicorn wrapped in a fantasy blanket. It was…quite literally…a throwaway line by Iger when he didn’t want to talk about something and made an excuse.

They have already overpriced the parks product - for the first time ever, documented - so “less attendance” would force more cuts for margins and even more outrageous prices.

Let me speak for everyone: you don’t want less crowds.
What you want are strengthened parks where they make more incremental money from everyone.

That’s the “model”
Hakuna Matata

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

And I will add, many businesses lose money before they end up making money. Take Amazon for example! They lost money for years but now make significant revenue!

It’s a risky investment, but it isn’t that high risk. If streaming was not a promising investment, not as many companies would be joining in. It’s better to build up your subscriber count and be early to the game than wait for your competition to test the water and possibly take a large portion of the market share (and perhaps the water is tested well enough already, and Disney jumped in at just the right time. Who knows?).

They all went into streaming because it is the only option to try and reclaim the near free cash flow networks enjoyed during the height of bundled/ad laden cable days when people were locked in. It was 25 years of swimming in money like Scrooge Mc duck.

they don’t have a choice but to fill that void. And what are they doing? Bobby I just told you: jacking prices like cable and trying to sell ads promising an Audience that has no choice.

How ingeniously 1990 of him


Disney was so heavy on espn money for years that it fueled the whole outfit. We forget that.

So for years people tout streaming as a “smart business decision”…when really it’s a desperation move as the river ran dry. They’re all “hoping”

And the Amazon comparison doesn’t work. Consumer habits and technology pivoted IN to amazon’s position

Are people pivoting towards $50 a month wireless subscriptions for limited content and swifter ads interrupting their episode of She-Hulk?

 

[yensid1967]

So if the reasons for their financial situation is high prices the market will take care of it.
Why companies do the things they do is anyone's guess? I'm not an Uber fan so I've got no horse on this race.

Now I dont get why everyone is freaking out over low crowds? Weren't people previously complaining about over crowding. Personally I'm slap happy attendance is dropping, yep I've got 2 upcoming trips and low crowds will definitely make us happy.

As long as the low crowds would equal lower prices...that would be MAGICAL!!

 

[mkt]

I have been seeing all the problems that TWDC is having and through it all it seems that the problem segment of the company is Disney+ service. It seems they don't want to admit that the streaming service is the elephant in the room! It is reported not making profit for the company, with the Parks segment carrying the weight! Why don't they just admit it and start over to something that would be a money maker for the company!?

I'm surprised that Disney hasn't shut it down and licensed the content out to Netflix or Apple TV, with a guarantee for exclusive content.

 

[fosse76]

I think Disney+ can be profitable but it seems like they keep circling back to bad decisions. I don't really understand it. Everyone I know has Disney+ and got it when it was more affordable. But then they started all of these price increases and now more people are canceling it. They're losing customers because of it but then raising the prices to make up the difference, another round of cancellations and then price increases. If they only showed their movies and old cartoons, it would be better than some of the newer shows they're producing for the channel. I'm glad they're slowing down on the Marvel and Star Wars because those big budget shows got to be too much. I hope they find a formula that actually works.

It doesn't help that their new original programming caters to niche segments. Not everyone is a Star Wars fan. Willow was a flop (you couldn't even "see" the episodes; they were so dark). The National Geographic programing isn't really attractive to a mainstream audience. The kids programs are too silly for any adults to really watch. And let's face it, without a wide release of films in movies, their visibility is limited so unlikely to capture people who may have otherwise seen it in a movie theater (same for other streaming services). Hamilton is really the only time there seemed to be a real push into the mainstream visibility, but that is because Lin Manuel Miranda craves attention and was on talk shows promoting it. Other streaming content doesn't really get that, besides maybe an online ad or article.

 

[networkpro]

They all went into streaming because it is the only option to try and reclaim the near free cash flow networks enjoyed during the height of bundled/ad laden cable days when people were locked in. It was 25 years of swimming in money like Scrooge Mc duck.

Are people pivoting towards $50 a month wireless subscriptions for limited content and swifter ads interrupting their episode of She-Hulk?

Ironic that their main competition also bellied up to that trough and is using their parks to diversify and expand their own revenue streams before the golden goose is strangled.

 

[LeighM]

It doesn't help that their new original programming caters to niche segments. Not everyone is a Star Wars fan. Willow was a flop (you couldn't even "see" the episodes; they were so dark). The National Geographic programing isn't really attractive to a mainstream audience. The kids programs are too silly for any adults to really watch. And let's face it, without a wide release of films in movies, their visibility is limited so unlikely to capture people who may have otherwise seen it in a movie theater (same for other streaming services). Hamilton is really the only time there seemed to be a real push into the mainstream visibility, but that is because Lin Manuel Miranda craves attention and was on talk shows promoting it. Other streaming content doesn't really get that, besides maybe an online ad or article.

I see that as them diversifying their shows. They really do have something for everyone on there. And I don't expect kids shows to be up to adult's standards LOL. That reminds me of adults complaining about the acting and writing for one of the Descendants movies. I'm not their target audience. I don't expect everything created to be tailored for me. I enjoy watching the classic Disney movies, behind the scenes shows, most of the educational programming from NatGeo. And I even liked the kids show Secrets of Sulphur Springs. I like Marvel but don't like Star Wars. I still don't know how to feel about Dr. Who being streamed on Disney+ later this year though.....

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Ironic that their main competition also bellied up to that trough and is using their parks to diversify and expand their own revenue streams before the golden goose is strangled.

Well they all have “limited options”

But isn’t it ironic the company everyone pegged years ago as “dead” without cable pivoted in regional sports networks, parks and investment in high speed to take the place of coaxial cable delivery?

Brian Roberts is savvy. More so that Robert…and on the level of Eisner.
Roy E and Stan Gold were fans of his…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I see that as them diversifying their shows. They really do have something for everyone on there. And I don't expect kids shows to be up to adult's standards LOL. That reminds me of adults complaining about the acting and writing for one of the Descendants movies. I'm not their target audience. I don't expect everything created to be tailored for me. I enjoy watching the classic Disney movies, behind the scenes shows, most of the educational programming from NatGeo. And I even liked the kids show Secrets of Sulphur Springs. I like Marvel but don't like Star Wars. I still don't know how to feel about Dr. Who being streamed on Disney+ later this year though.....

“something for everyone” only works if it’s good enough and there’s equal demand for it…which will never happen.

It’s kinda the elephant in the room for the concept of immensely profitable streaming