Disney spent years building Disney+ around the idea that consumers needed to subscribe to Disney’s streaming service to access the company’s valuable entertainment library.
Now, some of that content is heading back to Netflix.
Disney and Netflix announced a significant new licensing agreement Thursday that will bring a collection of Disney-owned movies and television shows to Netflix, including Disney+ original Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Ice Age franchise, and relatively recent Disney and Pixar movies.
The timing is particularly noteworthy. The agreement was announced just four days before Paramount Skydance is expected to complete its massive acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating another enormous competitor in the increasingly consolidated streaming business.
Disney+ Original Percy Jackson Heads to Netflix
Perhaps the most surprising component of the agreement involves Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
The first two seasons of the Disney+ original series will become available globally on Netflix beginning October 4 for a three-month window. Disney is using Netflix to promote the property ahead of Percy Jackson Season 3, which premieres exclusively on Disney+ on November 20.
That’s effectively Disney using one of its largest streaming competitors as a promotional platform for Disney+.
The agreement goes considerably further.
Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson in PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS – “Episode 102” (Disney/David Bukach)
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All five existing Ice Age movies will arrive on Netflix globally for three months ahead of the theatrical release of Ice Age: Boiling Point next year.
Netflix will also receive a rotating selection of Disney and Pixar movies beginning in 2027, including Soul, Elio, and Raya and the Last Dragon. Television shows including Will Trent, Shifting Gears, Tracker, Felicity, Revenge, Fresh Off the Boat, and This Is Us are also included in the broader licensing strategy.
Disney isn’t giving away the crown jewels. Major franchise content will largely remain exclusive to Disney’s own platforms. But the willingness to license a current Disney+ original and relatively recent Disney and Pixar movies is still notable.
If Disney+ Is the Future, Why Does Disney Need Netflix?
The move comes after Disney spent years aggressively building its own streaming ecosystem and pulling content away from competing platforms.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro recently described Disney+ as the company’s “digital centerpiece” while outlining plans to integrate more of Disney’s businesses into the service. However, he also acknowledged that Disney still has “work to do scaling Disney+ outside the U.S.”
That admission provides important context for the Netflix agreement.
The logo for Disney+ – YouTube, Disney+
If Disney can collect licensing revenue while exposing millions of Netflix customers to Percy Jackson, Ice Age, and other properties, Netflix suddenly becomes less of an enemy and more of an additional distribution and marketing platform.
But it also raises an obvious question about the strength of Disney’s original streaming strategy.
Disney+ was supposed to eliminate the need for Disney to rely on companies like Netflix to distribute its content. Disney is now effectively borrowing Netflix’s enormous global audience to generate additional value from programming it already owns.
A New Streaming Giant Arrives Monday
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that their merger is expected to officially close on October 6.
The combination will place Paramount+, HBO Max, CBS, HBO, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, DC, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Discovery, and numerous other entertainment brands under the same corporate umbrella.
The new Skydance Logo – SkyDance
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Paramount has described the combined operation as a “next-generation global media company,” with David Ellison remaining chairman and CEO alongside incoming co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.
Disney therefore enters the next phase of the streaming wars facing Netflix on one side and a dramatically larger Paramount-Warner Bros. competitor on the other.
The Streaming Wars Have Changed
Disney isn’t abandoning Disney+, and its biggest franchise properties aren’t suddenly moving wholesale to Netflix.
But the strategy has clearly evolved.
The original streaming wars were built around exclusivity. Every media company wanted its own service, its own subscribers, and its own walled-off library.
The Disney logo with a Tron Ares Overlay – YouTube, Disney
Disney’s latest deal suggests maximizing the value of its content may now be more important than keeping every movie and television show exclusively inside that wall.
There is a certain irony to Disney spending billions of dollars building Disney+ only to discover that Netflix can still be extremely useful when Disney wants to reach a larger audience.
And with Paramount and Warner Bros. about to become one company, Disney may have even more reason to take advantage of that reach.
Why do you think Disney is partnering with Netflix? Sound off and let us know!
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