There’s something going on at The Walt Disney Company which is not yet receiving much publicity. That’s good for Disney, because the thing in question is that they’re beginning to fail at bringing in audiences for their movies and streaming services. While they’re doing fantastic with Walt Disney World attendance this holiday season, the same cannot be said of their digital offerings. Marvel has had three straight financial flops at cinemas. Movies like Cruella and Encanto are coming up short as well. Internally, we’ve heard Disney is hitting the red button at the highest levels, beginning to allegedly make calls for hard shifts in narrative strategy.
Now things are beginning to make a lot of sense in that direction. Let’s take a look at the latest streaming numbers we have from October:
Persons 2+ Total Minutes Viewed – Week of 10/18/21 – 10/24/21
Rank
SVOD Provider
Program Name
# of Episodes
Minutes (Millions)
1
Netflix
You
30
2,682
2
Netflix
Squid Game*
9
1,682
3
Netflix
Maid (2021)
10
865
4
Netflix
Locke & Key
20
637
5
Netflix
The Great British Baking Show
70
483
6
Hulu
Only Murders In The Building
10
386
7
Netflix
Another Life
20
304
8
Netflix
Midnight Mass
7
304
9
Apple TV+
Ted Lasso
22
291
10
Netflix
My Name
8
275
According to Nielson, the top ten for original programming on all US streaming services has Disney+ completely out of the list. This is catastrophically bad for a company whose stock evaluation comes, in large part, from its streaming prospects. Original programming drives new subscriptions. In the post-pandemic outbreak period, original streaming may be more important than the top box office spots.
When it comes to movies, Disney fared better. They took the top spot with Black Widow, followed by seasonal favorite, Hocus Pocus (no wonder there’s a sequel). Nightmare Before Christmas also landed in the sixth spot: when they can get Tim Burton and Danny Elfman to make a sequel for that one, they’ll be swimming in new money.
But again, original programming is what drives new subscriptions. Very few people are buying Disney+ so they can watch Hocus Pocus, a cult classic holiday movie from the nineties. Disney+ needs growth out of series like The Mandalorian. For the Christmas season, they’re looking to Hawkeye to carry that load. The only problem is, it doesn’t seem to be moving the needle an inch.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the character of Hawkeye very much. I think Jeremy Renner has done a fantastic job with the character for a long time, and his down-to-earth heroism is a nice respite to the rest of the over-the-top Avengers. I also think that Hailey Steinfeld is doing yeoman’s work with a script that pushes her character too far into a cartoon-like perfectionism. That she’s able to take a Rey-like character and still convey humanity into that role says a lot about her incredible acting (remember True Grit?)… and it’s a pity she’s having to overcome poor writing.
All of that said, the new mini-series does not seem to be generating any significant interest… definitely not the kind that would drive large numbers of new subscriptions. That’s what Disney needs, and that’s what Bob Chapek is getting ready to demand of his studios. Marvel and Lucasfilm need to begin producing again. More proof of what we’re hearing about the series can be seen in the following Google Trends chart:
As you can see, Hawkeye is trending at just about 25% of of Loki’s total interest. And Loki failed to generate big Disney+ growth, even though it was one of the top streaming shows for 2021. You can imagine that Disney and Marvel are looking at current Hawkeye numbers with real worry that the Marvel golden goose has caught something bad that it just can’t shake. The fervor that we saw within the fanbase up until Thanos’ defeat has been snapped away from a company that benefited greatly from worldwide fan zeal.
So what is Disney to do? Well, as we’ve said, they’re contemplating going back to what worked before. The question is, how much is it going to cost to reassemble? My guess is Bob Chapek will be ready to pay whatever that amount might be.
Author: W. D. W. Pro
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Google Trends chart looks broken, might want to just do a jpg instead of a direct link. That said, if they want audiences back, what’s happening with “The Story Matters Group”? They still going to push agenda into everything or is Chapek going to shut them down and tell studios to go with what sells?
Aaron Countryman
4 years ago
LoL after I post comment, chart magically appears. Oh well.
Sorry, sometimes the way Google Trends are embedded can lead to wonkiness. Thank you for helping though, and we always appreciate getting a comment to let us know when something isn’t working right.
Google Trends chart looks broken, might want to just do a jpg instead of a direct link. That said, if they want audiences back, what’s happening with “The Story Matters Group”? They still going to push agenda into everything or is Chapek going to shut them down and tell studios to go with what sells?
LoL after I post comment, chart magically appears. Oh well.
Sorry, sometimes the way Google Trends are embedded can lead to wonkiness. Thank you for helping though, and we always appreciate getting a comment to let us know when something isn’t working right.