On Tuesday, April 21, Netflix had their investors call and during the meeting CEO, Reed Hastings complimented Disney on their handling on Disney+ on adding more than 50 million subscribers since their launch late last year.

Hastings said “..over 20 years of watching different businesses — incumbents like Blockbuster and Walmart and all these companies — I’ve never seen such a good execution of the incumbent learning the new way and mastering it.”

Going further Netflix co-creator, Marc Randolph also agreed stating:

“I have to echo what he’s saying, I’m actually very impressed with the job Disney has done. But despite Disney’s success, it’s really hard to build in two years something Netflix has been working on for 22 years. There are certain advantages to having 180-plus million subscribers and all the data that comes with that direct relationship.”

This is where I agree.

I think where Disney was always going to succeed was in the years of building an established fan-base with Disney products and IP. Of course it was going to have a surge in the beginning but it’s likely going to level off.

Will Disney Overtake Netflix?

Not anytime soon.

One issue I think Disney+ has is that it’s limited in their audience. Netflix can reach more people as they don’t have the expectations on age appropriateness and can take more chances on IP. Disney has Marvel and Star Wars, yes, but both brands are starting to face some issues as a significant number of fans haven’t liked some of the choices being made as of late.

They will need to work harder and gain more content to win over customers that weren’t big enough fans to subscribe on the Disney name alone. Many don’t feel there’s enough new content and value in the service yet. That could change as more big IP shows and films are added.

I agree with Netflix that Disney did a good job in hitting 50 million so quickly.

I also think this is one area that the Coronavirus pandemic is helping both Disney+ and Netflix. Down the road we will probably see numbers dip after people are allowed to return to work and go out again. But I think Disney will still grow as new, in demand, content rolls out. But Randolph did point out that the companies have very different focuses in their business model:

“You really have what I consider the ‘secret weapon’ which is focus. Netflix is not worried about theatrical releases, it’s not worried about theme parks, it’s not worried about cruise lines, it’s not worried about live sports,” he said. “There is a certain advantage to being a pure [streaming] play.”

Disney might “win” when it comes to the other areas, but I think it’s going to take some time to catch up to Netflix and soon HBO Max is entering the ring and that will again shake things up.

But no matter what happens, it was nice that Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph gave a hat tip to Disney+. They are the experts after all.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Featured Image: Xanjero