Still More Star Wars on Disney+?

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

April 22, 2020

Could it be that another Star Wars series is in the works for Disney+? Well, that’s the case according to another exclusive report courtesy of Variety.

Variety is reporting that a new, female-centric series “from Leslye Headland, the co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed Netflix series ‘Russian Doll,’” is ramping up, and that it “takes place in a different part of the ‘Star Wars’ timeline than other projects.”

That would put Disney+ with four, live-action Star Wars series at various stages of production – “The Mandalorian” heading into its second season in October with a third coming, and three more shows on the way, i.e., an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor, a Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna, and now this Headland vehicle.

For the ultimate Star Wars fan, this should satisfy, with another eye looking ahead to the next Star Wars movie scheduled, at this point, for December 2022.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution (now available at a deep discount) and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Need Some Good Disney News? Mandalorian Season 3

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

April 21, 2020

We could all use some good Disney news these days, and Variety served up a good news exclusive today reporting that creator Jon Favreau has been writing Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” for Disney+.

The Lucasfilm art department also has been working on creating concepts for Season 3.

How about a little more good news? While we already knew that Season 2 of “The Mandalorian” was scheduled to arrive in October, Variety pointed out:

News of season 3 being in the works comes just over a month after production wrapped on Season 2. “The Mandalorian” was luckier than most shows, as it managed to round off production in early March, just before the first coronavirus shelter in place orders came into effect.

Yes! Give me more Star Wars via “The Mandalorian”!

For a reminder, check out DisneyBizJournal’s “6 Big Reasons to Love the Mandalorian.”

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution (now available at a deep discount) and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney+ Playing a Role in Streaming Shift

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

March 31, 2020

Yes, America is binge watching ... big time. The latest Nielsen data show that the number of streaming minutes during the first three weeks of March jumped by 85 percent versus the same time last year, according to Nielsen data as reported by Variety.

The week of March 16 saw a jump in streaming minutes by 22 percent compared to the previous week, and up by 2.2 times the same week last year.

However, Variety also pointed out: “Note that Nielsen is reporting just streaming to TVs: The analysis doesn’t measure mobile or PC video streaming, so the total amount of online video U.S. consumers are watching is even higher.” Indeed, it’s safe to assume much, much higher.

The Nielsen data shows that Netflix during the week of March 16 led the way with 29 percent of TV-based streaming, followed by YouTube at 20 percent, Hulu at 10 percent and Amazon at 9 percent. Disney+ is not broken out, being included in the “other” category, which gathered 31 percent of TV-based streaming. 

Regarding Disney+ and others, Variety noted: “But Nielsen pointed out the ‘other’ category has seen an ever bigger rise for the most recent week measured. That bucket includes Disney Plus (which is not reported out by Nielsen currently) and the research firm speculated that the Mouse House’s streaming service is seeing a significant lift from kids staying home from school — along with ‘Frozen 2’ dropping three months early on Disney Plus.”

In addition, again based on the Nielsen data, USA Today broke down streaming shares compared to a year earlier:

But while Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu make up the vast majority of streaming activity on TV sets, Netflix and Hulu claimed a smaller share of that viewing than they did last year, the Nielsen data show.  Netflix claimed 29% of total streaming minutes for the week ended March 22, down from 36% from the equivalent week last year; Hulu accounted for 10%, down from 15%.  YouTube represented 20%, up from 19%.  And Amazon inched up to 9%, from 7%. And reflecting big growth in the number of new services, led by Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus, the “other” category jumped to 31% from 23%.

We look forward to seeing total streaming numbers covering all devices, expecting that Disney+ will have an even more significant role in further shifting the streaming audience. 

The Walt Disney Company reported that as of early February, Disney+ had 28.6 million subscribers.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney Super Sunday Links: Interesting Reads and More

assembled by Ray Keating

News/Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 2, 2019

Here are a few items worth exploring on this Super Bowl Sunday focused on the outlook for the Disney Plus streaming service; a Disney earnings preview; and a high-dollar, VIP tour of Walt Disney World.

Variety Looks at Disney and It’s Streaming Service

Among the points made in Variety’s latest assessment on Disney and its streaming service is the following: “Wall Street sources say Disney will have to shed light on three key points in pitching the streaming strategy to investors: how much it will spend on content, how much traditional licensing revenue will be lost by keeping more of its content in-house, and when it expects the bottom of that investment cycle to come before a return to growth.”

Read more...

Disney’s Earnings Report on the Way

Nasdaq.com offers an earnings preview for The Walt Disney Company.

Read more...

New VIP Tour of Walt Disney World

Are you interested in a high-dollar, VIP tour of Walt Disney World?

Read more...

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels, with the three latest books being Reagan Country: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, Heroes and Villains: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Storyand Shifting Sands: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story. He can be contacted at raykeating@keatingreports.com.