To get a sense of where the broader entertainment and streaming industry is going for the long term, Disney's strategy may be the model to watch.
Its much-hyped $6.99/month Disney+ streaming service, launched in November and has already topped 54.5 million subscribers.
Disney's foray into streaming market dates back to 2016, when it invested $1 billion for a 33 percent stake in BAMTech.
The video-streaming company—which was initially spun out of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media (MLBAM) arm—at one time powered streaming apps including MLB.TV, HBO Now, the NHL and PGA Tour apps, PlayStation Vue, and even the WWE Network streaming app before Disney took full control and rebranded BAMTech as Disney Streaming Services.
BAMTech's outside-consulting focus came to a halt when Disney bought another 42 percent stake to take majority control of it in 2017, and announced its direct-to-consumer streaming services, which would become ESPN+ and Disney+, in the same press release.
ESPN+, which costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year, has more than 7.6 million subscribers.
Disney's advantages outweigh its challenges.
Armed with original Marvel and Star Wars series, the Disney and Pixar film vault, Disney Channel kids programming, and the 21st Century Fox catalog—including National Geographic—Disney+ looms large.
Big-budget franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are key to Disney's business strategy in all their forms: from Disney book series and toys, to blockbuster films and TV shows, to cruise lines and theme parks such as the massive Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge parks.
Disney's end-to-end pipeline is the most fully realized version of a true content-industrial complex, and the one piece missing until now was a streaming subscription service.
As the new players have found, building a streaming platform from scratch takes time.
Streaming expert Dan Rayburn described BAMTech as "the special forces of our industry.
They're the best at what they do, and they've been doing OTT streaming longer than anyone.
And by the time Disney+ rolls out, it will still have taken them 18 months to build it."
The man who built it is Joe Inzerillo, the CTO of Disney Streaming Services.
Inzerillo is the former CTO of BAMTech and one of the founders of MLBAM.
He oversees all Disney's video-streaming tech, including Disney+ and ESPN+.
Inzerillio told Daxdi last year that Disney built its streaming interface to highlight its moneymakers—it's sprawling, interconnected Marvel and Star Wars cinematic universes.
"The thing I find so incredibly compelling about [Marvel and Star Wars] is that it's they're one enormous narrative with a bunch of stories around it," said Inzerillo.
"So the user interface of a company's streaming service that makes epic sagas like that needs to be user-connected and one narrative designed to showcase the content for you and put it in front of the fans that love it, not get in the way.
But it also needs to be personalized.
It needs to be able to do all sorts of things.
So it's the fusion of all those components to create this vision of a constant narrative."
To get a sense of where the broader entertainment and streaming industry is going for the long term, Disney's strategy may be the model to watch.
Its much-hyped $6.99/month Disney+ streaming service, launched in November and has already topped 54.5 million subscribers.
Disney's foray into streaming market dates back to 2016, when it invested $1 billion for a 33 percent stake in BAMTech.
The video-streaming company—which was initially spun out of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media (MLBAM) arm—at one time powered streaming apps including MLB.TV, HBO Now, the NHL and PGA Tour apps, PlayStation Vue, and even the WWE Network streaming app before Disney took full control and rebranded BAMTech as Disney Streaming Services.
BAMTech's outside-consulting focus came to a halt when Disney bought another 42 percent stake to take majority control of it in 2017, and announced its direct-to-consumer streaming services, which would become ESPN+ and Disney+, in the same press release.
ESPN+, which costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year, has more than 7.6 million subscribers.
Disney's advantages outweigh its challenges.
Armed with original Marvel and Star Wars series, the Disney and Pixar film vault, Disney Channel kids programming, and the 21st Century Fox catalog—including National Geographic—Disney+ looms large.
Big-budget franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are key to Disney's business strategy in all their forms: from Disney book series and toys, to blockbuster films and TV shows, to cruise lines and theme parks such as the massive Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge parks.
Disney's end-to-end pipeline is the most fully realized version of a true content-industrial complex, and the one piece missing until now was a streaming subscription service.
As the new players have found, building a streaming platform from scratch takes time.
Streaming expert Dan Rayburn described BAMTech as "the special forces of our industry.
They're the best at what they do, and they've been doing OTT streaming longer than anyone.
And by the time Disney+ rolls out, it will still have taken them 18 months to build it."
The man who built it is Joe Inzerillo, the CTO of Disney Streaming Services.
Inzerillo is the former CTO of BAMTech and one of the founders of MLBAM.
He oversees all Disney's video-streaming tech, including Disney+ and ESPN+.
Inzerillio told Daxdi last year that Disney built its streaming interface to highlight its moneymakers—it's sprawling, interconnected Marvel and Star Wars cinematic universes.
"The thing I find so incredibly compelling about [Marvel and Star Wars] is that it's they're one enormous narrative with a bunch of stories around it," said Inzerillo.
"So the user interface of a company's streaming service that makes epic sagas like that needs to be user-connected and one narrative designed to showcase the content for you and put it in front of the fans that love it, not get in the way.
But it also needs to be personalized.
It needs to be able to do all sorts of things.
So it's the fusion of all those components to create this vision of a constant narrative."
