Disney parks and resorts may be struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company's direct-to-consumer business is going swimmingly, according to a Monday announcement about a strategic reorganization.
The new structure pries apart original content creation from distribution and commercialization, allowing Disney to make individual decisions based on whether the next Marvel installment, for instance, will make more money in theaters or on streaming.
"The consumer's actually going to be who's going to make this decision," Disney CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC this week. "They're going to lead us with the way that they make their transactional decisions. And right now, they're voting with their pocketbooks and they're voting very heavily toward Disney+. And so what we want to do is make sure that we're going the way that consumers want us to go."
Leading the charge at the new Media and Entertainment Distribution group is Kareem Daniel, former president of Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. A 14-year Disney veteran, Daniel has helmed interactive experiences, publishing, studio distribution, and Walt Disney Imagineering. His new job is to monetize content—like charging a $30 premiere fee to watch new streaming films.
The spread of novel coronavirus has proven a real boon for Disney+, which launched in November with a library of movies and TV series produced by Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and National Geographic. But this new focus on streaming is not a "response" to COVID as much as a fringe benefit, Chapek explained.
"I might say that COVID accelerated the rate at which we made this transition. But [it] was going to happen anyway," the executive said. By separating content creators from decision makers, the company hopes to make the "optimal decision" as opposed to "somehow having to be predetermined that a movie is destined for theaters or that a TV show is destined for ABC."