On March 24 it also started in Italy the Disney + era, the streaming service of Mickey's house. The American company has been able to combine under its great protective wing contents for almost all ages and palates, giving fans, especially the nostalgic and lovers of animated cinema, something to rejoice for.
The spread of Disney + continues unabated, the announcement that the service has reached 50 million subscriptions recently arrived. But why is it having so much success?
Endless catalog
The first reason is for all to see, the contents. The macro areas in which the platform is divided are a perfect corollary of popularity and cinematic success. The vast souls of Disney, between films and TV series of all types and ages, are joined by the other souls of the great American multinational, those capable of making a difference even for fans of comics and science fiction: Star Wars and Marvel are brands capable of capturing the attention of a huge crowd of true fans.
To complete the offer are the quality animation of Pixar, which needs no introduction, and the world of beautiful National Geographic documentaries. The popularity of all these brands has long been synonymous with a guarantee, anyone can draw up a long series of content to retrieve, watch and review.
Nostalgia effect
The nostalgia factor it's one of those things that can convince a user to subscribe. Finding something that makes him feel at home on a new platform is one of those reasons that tip the balance on one service rather than another. The battle for the acquisition of the airing rights of a series like Friends and the fact that this, wherever it is inserted, is always at the top of the charts of the most viewed streaming content, is there to demonstrate how indissolubly linked the tastes of the public are to the past.
Disney + has no equal in this with no other existing streaming platform. Most of its catalog speaks of the past, a recent past and a remote past, capable of covering a wide spectrum of the history of cinema and memories for most of us, whatever our age. Disney classics, historical live action and animated series, great classics of cinema, animated shorts that have made history, many are those things capable of igniting a spark, of making many feel at home.
Deadlines? No thanks
Disney has an unrivaled archive, capable of embracing every genre and every historical period and, above all, of giving users a catalog without deadlines of sorts. Everything we find on the platform today is Disney's exclusive property and will therefore always be present as long as the service comes to life. The streaming platforms tested so far have been "plagued" by a ruthless and unrivaled race for rights.
Content present only for a certain period of time, which is launched in style but which after a while disappear into thin air, to then arrive on another platform, perhaps the one we are not subscribed to. All this, as well as bringing the big giants of the sector to focus almost everything on the original series, will soon push the platforms to "recall" their own contents.
If all the production companies create proprietary platforms, it is obvious that they will try to have their symbols in their catalog: this is what is happening in the United States with the boundless Warner catalog, recalled all in Long awaited HBO Max. When this whole process reaches a balance, who will have some of the most popular products of cinema and TV among its ranks? You already know the answer.
Special contents
Then there is a feature not to be underestimated, of those capable of giving new lifeblood to many historical contents. The most important films come with a series of extras of no small importance. It is, in essence, all the extra-film content that has always enriched most of the home video releases: we are talking about cut scenes, interviews with the actors, behind the scenes, even entire films commented by actors and directors. It is a corollary of additions that can make the difference, previously unpublished in most platforms and that becomes very important in a service like this.
We may have already seen all the films present, but apart from the collectors we are sure that many of the extras present are for many unpublished and therefore capable, on their own, of representing an additional content, perhaps not important for everyone, but that in a war on the last subscriber can really make a difference, all the more so with the price Disney has decided to apply to the launch: maybe the 6.99 euros per month will not last forever, but for now they represent a rather convenient business card given the historical archive that is offered.
The unedited of the future
The strength of the originals, although for now quite limited, will make its weight felt in the long run, given the magic that gravitates around the Disney world and the potential that the Star Wars and Marvel series will have, which will fully fit into their respective expanded universes, becoming an integral part of it. The goal is to tie the fans as much as possible to the stories that will be told, with the cunning to make them feel often and willingly an integral part of something bigger.
Also in this sense we can explain the choice to release one episode per week of these series: you want to understand the great production effort, comparable to real films, the importance of what you are watching, for a seriality that can go back to being "a matter of waiting" and not just a voracious whole and immediately of episodes and contents.
If things work out, a much more lasting bond will be established than with other platforms, a psychological game to play traditional television which seemed to have been engulfed by the Netflix model, but which, given the weight of the productions that Disney + is preparing to launch, could be much more successful than we think.
Time will tell
The credentials for an unprecedented success are all there, with an undeniable quality that, net of some endemic throwing defect, will make its weight felt in the future. Disney + has a pretty strong base, perhaps the best in today's streaming landscape, but it will have to be careful to build its future with precise and careful choices, perhaps also embracing the preferences of a more adult audience.
The margins for building something even bigger are all there, with various narrative worlds full of perspectives in every direction, from films to series, without considering the theatrical releases that will find in the platform an exclusive home in which to reside for a long time. The formula, at least in the medium term, guarantees guaranteed success, it will be necessary to see if the old contents will be enough to guarantee the loyalty of subscribers in the long run. We will see in a few years in which direction the leaders will go, if they will vary or expand their offer and what answers will come. After all, we are only at the beginning.
