Key Points

Streaming Transformation: This has been Disney's business focus in recent years. However, the user growth rate has slowed down, and the company is facing huge operating losses.
Creative Slump: Disney is facing challenges in content creation, which is affecting the company's overall performance and brand value.
Marvel Studios: It was once Disney's revenue engine, but recent works have shown weak performance, and it urgently needs to transform.
The Iger Era: During Robert Iger's tenure as CEO, Disney's creative vitality was activated through acquisitions and decentralization.
Value Conflicts: Disney faces challenges in content creation and needs to find a balance between universal values and the trends of the times.

Abstract

As it celebrates its centenary, media and entertainment giant Disney is facing unprecedented challenges. Despite vigorously promoting the streaming transformation in recent years, the user growth has been sluggish, and the huge losses have attracted industry attention. The deeper problem lies in the weakness of content creativity. Even Marvel Studios, once the revenue engine, is showing signs of decline. In the face of the crisis, Disney urgently needs to reshape its content strategy, adhere to its core values, and actively embrace the changes of the times. Whether it can successfully emerge from the trough will determine the future direction of this century - old company.

Insights

This podcast deeply analyzes the current predicament Disney is facing and reveals the deeper content crisis behind the streaming transformation. This crisis is not an isolated incident but a microcosm of the entire entertainment industry under the changes of the times. Disney's case warns us that no enterprise can remain at the top forever. Only by continuous innovation can a company remain invincible in the fierce market competition. In addition, valuing talents and protecting creative freedom are the keys to stimulating content vitality.

Views

01 "Content is King, Creativity is Paramount"

Content is the core of all Disney's business models. A creative slump directly affects the company's overall performance.

02 "Mergers are Easy, Integration is Hard"

How to fully realize the value of acquired assets, protect and stimulate their creative vitality is an important issue Disney is facing.

03 "Embrace Changes, Stay True to the Original Intention"

Disney needs to adhere to its core values while actively embracing the changes of the times and find a balance between universal values and the trends of the times.

In - Depth Analysis

The Crisis and Transformation of Century - Old Disney: The Deep - seated Challenges Behind the Content Slump

In 2023, The Walt Disney Company celebrated its 100th birthday. This small animation studio founded by Walt Disney in 1923 has now grown into the world's largest multinational media and entertainment giant. However, while celebrating its centenary, Disney is also facing unprecedented challenges.

Falling stock prices, streaming losses, and a slump in content creativity - a series of problems have pushed this century - old company to the forefront. What exactly is wrong with Disney? And where is its future heading?

Streaming Transformation: A Gamble?

In recent years, Disney has focused its business on the streaming field, hoping to compete with streaming giants like Netflix through its three platforms: Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. To this end, Disney has invested heavily and moved a large amount of its content to the streaming platforms.

However, this gamble doesn't seem to have achieved the expected results. Although Disney+ experienced rapid growth in the initial stage, the user growth rate has started to slow down and even decline. Meanwhile, Disney's cumulative operating losses in the streaming business have exceeded $6.5 billion.

Has the streaming transformation really failed? Perhaps it's unfair to attribute all the problems to the streaming transformation. During the pandemic, the streaming business brought some benefits to Disney. However, it's undeniable that the competition in the streaming market is becoming increasingly fierce, the cost of acquiring users is rising, and the challenges Disney faces are getting greater.

Content Slump: Disney's Achilles' Heel

If the streaming transformation is an external challenge for Disney, then a slump in content creativity is its internal Achilles' heel. Disney internally refers to content creation as "creativity." From the perspective of financial reports and business structure, the decline in content is the biggest factor dragging down Disney's performance. From a business logic perspective, content is the core of all Disney's businesses. If there are problems with the content, the entire company will inevitably be affected. Disney's entertainment segment covers various content forms such as movies, TV shows, and streaming media. Among them, the movie business is particularly important. However, in recent years, the revenue and profits of Disney Studios have both declined significantly. Marvel Studios, once the "superhero factory" that brought huge profits to Disney, is now showing signs of fatigue. Before 2019, Disney acquired Marvel for $4 billion, which was considered one of the most successful acquisitions in the history of the entertainment industry. Marvel Studios contributed countless box - office hits to Disney and was the biggest contributor to Disney's peak performance. However, after 2019, the quality and box - office performance of Marvel's movies have both declined. The global box office of The Marvels was only $200 million, which is considered one of the biggest flops in Marvel's history. In addition to Marvel, other film and TV studios under Disney have also failed to produce new blockbuster works. Pixar's reputation and box - office performance are no longer at their peak, and Disney Animation has had few big - selling works since Frozen.

Content Crisis: An Analysis of Three Reasons

Why has Disney's content creativity fallen into a trough? We can analyze it from the following three aspects:

Natural Fluctuations: Any content company cannot avoid the cyclical fluctuations of creation. Both Disney Animation and Marvel Studios have experienced glorious periods and are also bound to encounter troughs.
Company Management: During the tenure of Disney's legendary CEO Robert Iger, Disney's creative vitality was activated through acquisitions and decentralization. However, the management style of his successor, Bob Chapek, is very different from Iger's. He interfered too much in content creation, weakening the autonomy of the creative team.
Impact of the Times: In today's increasingly diversified values, Disney's traditional narrative methods are facing challenges. How to adhere to its core values while actively embracing the changes of the times is a question that Disney needs to seriously consider.

Historical Experience: Solving Content Crisis with Content

Looking back at Disney's history, we find that it has encountered crises due to content problems many times, but ultimately resolved them through content innovation. In the early 2000s, Disney lacked global blockbuster movies for a long time after The Lion King. In 2005, after Iger became CEO, he solved the creative problem of Disney Animation by acquiring Pixar. Since then, Pixar and Disney Animation have produced many excellent works, leading the trend of animated movies again. This case tells us that to solve the content crisis, we still have to rely on the content itself.

Forward - Looking Thinking: Disney's Future Path

Facing the current predicament, how should Disney respond? First, Disney needs to re - examine its content strategy. In the streaming era, content is no longer just movies and TV shows but covers various forms of entertainment products. Disney needs to increase investment in original content, actively explore new content forms, and meet the needs of different users. Second, Disney needs to reshape its management model. Iger's return may bring new hope to Disney. He needs to rebuild the trust relationship with the creative team, give them more creative freedom, and stimulate their innovation vitality. Finally, Disney needs to adhere to its core values. Disney's brand image has always been centered around family entertainment, and its content also conveys positive values. In today's increasingly diversified values, Disney needs to adhere to its core values while actively embracing the changes of the times and find a balance between universal values and the trends of the times. Disney's century - old history is full of challenges and opportunities. We have reason to believe that with its strong brand influence, rich content resources, and spirit of continuous innovation, Disney will surely emerge from the trough and regain its vitality.