In April 2019, Disney revealed to the public that they would be offering a new online streaming service known as Disney+ combating other popular streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV.
In the article, “Disney has a ‘major advantage’ as the streaming war heats up, says RBC’s Mark Mahaney” CNBC journalist, Eustance Huang, discussed how Disney+ had a major advantage over other streaming services. The advantage is called the “Black Catalogue”, which entails Disney spending billions of dollars each year to ensure it’s streaming has the best content. The author and other analysts compare the plan to Netflix, one of the most popular online streaming services, and the content it provides, or lack thereof. Netflix is not known for providing their customers with the most popular content aside from a few of its own produced content and a few critically-acclaimed shows. Disney planned on building better relationships with partners by providing them with a substantial amount of money to obtain access to the best content.
Disney+ was finally released on November 12, 2019. In the article, “Disney+ is off to a roaring start with 22 million mobile downloads,” MarketWatch discussed how the app gained intense popularity at a rapid pace. “The app averaged 9.5 million daily active mobile users, landing the top spot on Apple’s and Google’s app stores,” (MarketWatch). Since the article was published, Disney+ users have been increasing for its content and series exclusive to the streaming service, such as The Mandalorian
It is no secret that online streaming has taken over within the last few years and pushed cable to the side. It provides viewers with the shows they want to watch on-demand and at a far lower price. Now with Disney+, streaming services are more popular than ever and cable television is suffering. Other streaming services will continue to compete to be the best making online streaming stronger and ultimately putting cable television to rest. However, in my opinion, there could be major consequences of losing cable television. Television news will die with it.
Television news is mostly popular among the boomer generation. As a college student, I can observe that my peers are not watching the news on television and online streaming is a major contribution to that. However, this can be dangerous as the news is meant to inform the public on the world and everything around them. How can we make informed decisions on politics, our lifestyle, and our futures when the content we are consuming is, for the most part, fictional. These are merely observations and assumptions I am making, but being a communications student and seeing the ignorance among my peers is terrifying. I will be interested to see how it all pans out and if television news will make the full switch to online streaming.
Writing for the Media 