Disney vs Netflix

Disney vs Netflix

In a $71.3 billion deal, Disney bought out 21st Century Fox, also taking over a large number of the Fox studios. This deal could change a lot in the entertainment business. Disney will now have ownership rights to major Fox movies and characters such as Deadpool, The Simpsons, and X-Men. Does this mean that we could potentially see a Marvel/X-men movie? I’m pretty sure we can expect to see that crossover at some point.

On a (relatively) larger scale, the war between Disney and Netflix has reached a new level as of late. Some of Netflix’s most popular series up to this point were the Marvel/Netflix originals. With Disney gearing up to compete with Netflix and attempting to poach some of their customers, Netflix decided to cancel these shows which include: The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Daredevil. Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, claims that there are so many competitors other than Disney. Immediately, services like Hulu or Amazon Prime come to mind but Hastings says that their biggest competitor isn’t a streaming service at all. He believes it to be the wildly popular game, Fortnite. If you ask Hastings, he’d say Netflix is competing with TV entertainment as a whole but even in theory that wouldn’t make much sense. Playing a video game and watching TV are two completely different (for lack of a better word) sensations.

If I were Netflix, I would be a bit more concerned about a Disney streaming service for several reasons. The most obvious reason is the aforementioned fact that Disney now owns Fox studios which gives them ownership over Marvel. Another reason is because of the “Disney Renaissance” (1989-1999). A lot of Disney’s most successful franchises were released 20-30 years ago. Netflix’s largest group of subscribers range from 19-29. This nostalgic relevance could persuade a large group of subscribers to consider switching over to Disney+ whenever it is released. The final reason I would be concerned if I were Netflix is because of all the money and content that Disney already owns. Disney has a plethora of content they can already begin to stream on their service whenever it does launch.

While things are looking good for Disney in the long run, Netflix is comfortably sitting in first place. Already at about 150 million users, Netflix will continue to bring in more subscribers each year. Another good note for Netflix is the fact that other companies such as Paramount, see this war as an opportunity to partner with the streaming company. Netflix has also sought out a lot of the amazing talent that works for Disney such as ABC’s Shonda Rhimes who created hit shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. After signing her to a deal that nets about $100 million, we can only expect more writers to make the switch over.

Even though the struggle between these two giant companies may seem like it could get uglier before it gets any better, this could be good for us the audience. It forces each to produce better content and eliminate what is useless. It will also help to propel us into a more “internet TV” time period and get people away from signing these ridiculous cable TV contracts!