Credit: Harshlight, FlickrDisney explores new areas and venues regularly. But amidst the ongoing streaming wars that led the company into a Class Action lawsuit, the new approach has many puzzled.
Global Streaming Wars Lead Disney to Explore New Areas
The television streaming industry is an international phenomenon. Content comes from all over the world, so it only makes sense to meet those market demands. Disney seems to be doing exactly that, as the Wall Street Journal reported that the Walt Disney Company is planning its strategy in one of the world’s most populated countries.
Changes in Audiences Lead Disney to Explore India Strategy
Though it’s known that the entertainment market in India is notoriously difficult to corner, it’s not stopping Mickey Mouse from seeking new potions. Reports show that Disney has spoken with at least one bank to discuss how it can improve business in India, despite a massive content purge.
History of Disney and India
In 2019, Disney spent big money ($71 billion) to purchase 21st Century Fox and its TV assets in Asia. It also acquired the Star pay-tv business in the process. Then something happened. The market turned on its head.
The value of those businesses is different than pre-COVID times. Disney is actually closing many of its linear channels in East Asia, the ones acquired from Fox. What went wrong? Well, it seemed that tech moved a bit too quickly, changing investor perspective.
Keeping Up With the Tech
India moved to mobile broadband for video service delivery. That meant a market boom of tens of millions of households that weren’t accessible before. And this opened the floodgates to some significant new competitors. Amongst the new challengers is JioCinema, among the Viacom18 group.,
While Disney+ Hotstar has a foothold in the Indian market, the loss of telecast rights to certain features leads sources to predict Disney losing eight to 10 million subscribers by the third quarter. That’s one massive loss, coming at a time when the company’s books are under severe scrutiny.
Darwin Rules the Streaming Wars
Indian entertainment is a massive market, but it has heavy burdens to entry. Sony had to go through over a year-and-a-half of regulation wait times to merge with a local Indian company. Warner Bros. changed its allegiance from Star to JioCinema. Disney explores new areas regularly, and now that looks like divesting.
It’s a moving situation, but Disney explores new areas routinely. It opens and closes theme parks and attractions, aiming to be as dynamic as the market. Whether it will be enough to keep a stronghold in the massive, emerging Indian market is yet to be seen.
What do you think about the Indian TV streaming wars? Share your take in the comments down below!