4 Streaming Challenges Still Ahead of Disney

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="As soon as news broke that Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) was acquiring the bulk of Twenty-First Century Fox’s assets in a blockbuster deal, it was obvious: Disney was out to change streaming. Since then, Disney has made all of the right moves to challenge Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) for streaming supremacy. It has taken control of Hulu (originally a joint venture with several major media partners), rolled out sports streaming service ESPN+ (growing its subscriber base quickly), and announced a new streaming service, Disney+. Both the streaming ecosystem and the impressive bundled deal seem poised for success.” data-reactid=”11″>As soon as news broke that Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) was acquiring the bulk of Twenty-First Century Fox’s assets in a blockbuster deal, it was obvious: Disney was out to change streaming. Since then, Disney has made all of the right moves to challenge Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) for streaming supremacy. It has taken control of Hulu (originally a joint venture with several major media partners), rolled out sports streaming service ESPN+ (growing its subscriber base quickly), and announced a new streaming service, Disney+. Both the streaming ecosystem and the impressive bundled deal seem poised for success.

But this isn’t a coronation. Disney is on track to take on some serious competitors, and in the end, it has the opportunity to emerge as the big kid on the streaming block. But there’s still plenty to do before it can declare victory — here are some of the challenges the company still has to tackle.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Avoiding problems on Disney+ launch day

Disney+ is getting a lot of good press right now, and rightly so: It’s sporting some enviable media properties and is ready to come into the market at a price that undercuts many competitors, especially Netflix. But it’s important to remember that the service hasn’t actually launched yet. We don’t know how it will be organized, what content-discovery features it will have, or — crucially — whether it will have a smooth launch. Bad launches can hinder streaming services, and embarrassing server issues on launch day would really hurt Disney’s momentum.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Is this a challenge the company is up to? Disney exec Michael Paull says yes. He told The Verge that his team was "thinking very much" about overload issues and coming up with ways to keep servers up in the face of launch-day traffic. But Disney has had issues doing so on ESPN+, albeit with live-streamed events, which can be trickier than on-demand content due to limited buffering abilities (you can’t buffer video that hasn’t happened yet). The Disney+ launch-day crowd is virtually certain to be larger than the crowds that swamped ESPN+ during UFC matches — the sports offering has a relatively modest two million or so subscribers.” data-reactid=”27″>Is this a challenge the company is up to? Disney exec Michael Paull says yes. He told The Verge that his team was “thinking very much” about overload issues and coming up with ways to keep servers up in the face of launch-day traffic. But Disney has had issues doing so on ESPN+, albeit with live-streamed events, which can be trickier than on-demand content due to limited buffering abilities (you can’t buffer video that hasn’t happened yet). The Disney+ launch-day crowd is virtually certain to be larger than the crowds that swamped ESPN+ during UFC matches — the sports offering has a relatively modest two million or so subscribers.

Avoiding problems in high-traffic moments

Disney+ launch day will see the streaming service welcoming large numbers of users for the first time. But the hordes are likely to grow even larger with the debut of popular new programming. The good news for Disney is that, after launch day, subscribers can stream whenever they desire. There will be surges in viewer traffic, like weekday evenings and weekend afternoons, but will users ever again rush to log on and stream all at once?

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Actually, they probably will. That's because Disney+ is opting for an HBO-style weekly release schedule for its original series, rather than a Netflix-style season dump. Rather than binge-watching at their leisure, subscribers will presumably behave more like Game of Thrones&nbsp;viewers and try to watch their favorites "live."” data-reactid=”30″>Actually, they probably will. That’s because Disney+ is opting for an HBO-style weekly release schedule for its original series, rather than a Netflix-style season dump. Rather than binge-watching at their leisure, subscribers will presumably behave more like Game of Thrones viewers and try to watch their favorites “live.”

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="That can cause problems, and nobody knows it more than Paull: He was CEO of BAMTech, which ran HBO NOW's streaming when Game of Thrones fans crashed the service during a popular 2017 episode. The popularity of Game of Thrones has caused some smaller issues since then, and fans could certainly give Paull’s streaming team some headaches if the Disney+ originals are the hits management hopes they are.” data-reactid=”31″>That can cause problems, and nobody knows it more than Paull: He was CEO of BAMTech, which ran HBO NOW’s streaming when Game of Thrones fans crashed the service during a popular 2017 episode. The popularity of Game of Thrones has caused some smaller issues since then, and fans could certainly give Paull’s streaming team some headaches if the Disney+ originals are the hits management hopes they are.

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