Disney+ to launch March 24 in Europe

Disney will be entering the European streaming wars on March 24 will an offer which undercuts industry leader Netflix.

Launching a week earlier than initially forecast is an interesting bit of news, but ultimately it doesn’t necessarily mean anything material. Plans might be moving a bit quicker than expected or it could just be a ploy to attract more headlines. That said, the beginning of the streaming wars is now one week closer than we originally thought.

Interestingly enough, Disney+ will come into the market noticeably cheaper than its rivals. At 5.99/€6.99 a month, or £59.99/€69.99 for an annual subscription, Disney will undercut Netflix currently charges UK subscribers £8.99 a month, while Amazon Prime is £7.99.

“Let the battle commence,” said Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight.

“This service ticks all the boxes for households; a broad range of content will be available across numerous devices at an attractive price. However, distribution will be important, and Disney must secure deals with partners including telcos.”

While the variety, quantity and quality of the content will ultimately decide who gains an upper hand in the streaming wars, pricing will obviously play a key role. Disney has decided on an intriguing price-point, as undercutting Netflix by a couple of quid perhaps tempts users into a trial period for the service.

This is the challenge which Disney will face over the coming months; stealing subscriptions off Netflix. The video-on-demand (VoD) market is starting to become very congested and priced at such a point that consumers will have to make decisions. It is becoming too expensive to simply subscribe to everything, but Disney is the cheapest available. It is not inconceivable for consumers to trial Disney+ for a couple of months at £5.99, which allows it to prove value.

Disney+ is an unknown for many customers today. If the objective was to go head-to-head with Netflix from the outset, it would lose; Netflix is a trusted and popular service. Some might elect for Disney+ over Netflix, but not as many as Disney would hope for. Setting the price this low, allows for some to dip their toe into the Disney waters, and a couple of months might be enough to either hold onto them as subscribers, or turn them away from Netflix.

The question which remains is how many services can a household tolerate? There are now three main players (Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney) which would cost a subscriber £22.97 a month to gain access to all three. Then there is Sky, a dominant player in some markets, Viaplay, HBO, Movistar, TimVision and a host of others. The wallet can only be stretched so far.

As Pescatore notes above, partnerships will be key to gaining leverage in a very competitive market and also a more direct link to the consumers wallet. Telcos offer a trusted service to consumers, and therefore are a logical choice, but Disney is yet to announce deals in Europe. Both Amazon Prime and Netflix have partnerships in place, and this will be a very important aspect of the battleplan should Disney want to capitalise on the momentum it is building in the US.

Looking at Sensor Tower’s estimates for the period leading into Christmas, Disney can be very encouraged. It was the most popular app to be downloaded in the US with 30 million, taking in more than $50 million in revenue in the first 30 days. This would suggest Disney can be a very viable threat to Netflix’s dominance in the SVoD market.

With a recognised catalogue of content, heavy investments into new titles and a brand which is known, and trusted, throughout the world, Disney is starting to look like a genuine threat to Netflix.