Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro just confirmed that the company is taking a close look at moving into free streaming.
“We’re exploring a free product for consumers, one that will allow us to accomplish several goals and hopefully do that efficiently,” D’Amaro said on Wednesday morning during Disney’s earnings call. (D’Amaro was asked about FAST channels — which are live feeds of free, ad-supported TV — but he didn’t specifically mention them in his response.)
Business Insider reported in July that Disney is exploring making some Disney+ content accessible for free. Paramount+ is also looking into a “free front porch” to grow reach, as Hollywood increasingly embraces free streamers.
A free streaming offering would have three main benefits, D’Amaro said on the earnings call:
- Expanding Disney’s reach by better serving customers who are “more price sensitive”
- Growing its advertising revenue by adding more inventory
- Driving “top-of-funnel” subscriber growth for Disney+
Disney’s streaming ad spots are “fairly well sold,” D’Amaro said, adding that this isn’t the case for some of its streaming competitors.
“More inventory would actually help us accelerate our ad revenue growth,” D’Amaro said.
The Disney CEO said the company had “nothing specific to announce today” about a free product but that it’s “definitely something that we’re considering.”
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