The Walt Disney Company has announced plans for a broad structural reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses Monday.
This involves the creation of the new Media and Entertainment Distribution group, a centralized global distribution team responsible for P&L management, monetization, distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data and technology functions globally for Disney’s content production.
They also will manage operations for Disney’s streamers and U.S. TV networks. Kareem Daniel, the company’s President of Consumer Products, will lead this new division which will handle the output from the company’s three content groups:
Studios – Branded theatrical and episodic content based on Disney’s franchises from Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures. Co-chairmen: Alan Horn and Alan Bergman.
General Entertainment – Creation of episodic and original long-form content, such as those created by 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television, ABC News, Disney Channels, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic. Chairman: Peter Rice.
Sports – ESPN’s live sports programing, sports news, and original and unscripted sports content for cablers, ESPN Plus and ABC. Chairman: James Pitaro
The re-organization and consolidation is effective immediately with the press release indicating the “primary focus will be the Company’s streaming services” which have been a big success for the company to date and might also suggest there will be less of a focus on theatrical releases in the future.
Then again, CNBC reports that the reorganisation is in part at the behest of major shareholder Third Point Capital which wants to see the creation of more AAA content for the streaming service. The aim isn’t just to increase subscriptions and volume of content, but to monetize their base even further.
CEO Bob Chapek in a statement says the incredible success of Disney+ has accelerated the direct-to-consumer business and so they are: “strategically positioning our Company to more effectively support our growth strategy and increase shareholder value. Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it.”
Source: Variety
