Disney CEO Lays Out Future For Disney+…And It's Not What You'd Think

Disney recently hosted another quarterly earnings call to update shareholders and anyone else who would like to listen on how the company is doing.

Josh D’Amaro, CEO of The Walt Disney Company ©Disney

These calls gave us a look at what the Walt Disney Company is focused on, what changes could be on the way, and to hear about Disney’s thoughts on the future. The latest earnings call was held on August 5th, and CEO Josh D’Amaro had lots to share. One thing that really stood out to us was the plans for the future of Disney+, because it was not what we expected!

Disney really wants to shift some more attention to sports on Disney+! Obviously, with ESPN being owned by Disney, the company wants to spend more time adding content for sports fans and buckling down on the offerings for Disney+. Disney+ bundles have shown evidence to reduce customers leaving, so we could be seeing new ESPN bundle offers.

©Disney

It was put quite simply in the call, “[ESPN] is the most trusted brand in sports” and “expect us to lean in.” Disney+ has an established audience for those who love Disney content and the content on Hulu. Now, “the strategy is to bring additional sports content to Disney+ users and drive upsell in the bundles.”

ESPN Wide World of Sports

Disney is on track to spend $24 billion across the company on content, which is up pretty modestly from previous numbers. This does cover ALL forms of content, like movies and television that come to theaters and the Disney streaming platform. It most likely includes whatever comes of this new TikTok deal, and other forms of content. That being said, there is a focus to continue to grow Disney+. D’Amaro said that the “nature of tech is that small improvements compound over time, and we’re focused on that approach.”

©Disney

It’s no secret that the plan to add more sports content through ESPN is ultimately to achieve the goal of more subscribers. International growth is a MAJOR goal of Disney+, and they think that this is one step closer to that direction. We forget that Disney+ is still fairly new, as the platform is only seven years old. There are still more features the company wants to play with and add.

©Disney

We’re curious to see how this helps Disney+ numbers in the future, and we’re curious to see what specifically Disney will be doing with the streaming platform when it comes to having more sports-focused content. What does that look like? Only time will tell. For all the latest Disney news and updates, make sure to follow us at Disney Food Blog!

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What are your thoughts on the Disney+ focus? Let us know in the comments!