Disney+

Communications Audit

Introduction
Since the announcement of Disney+, social media and media coverage has been the driving
force of engagement and anticipation for the release of the streaming service. The following
communications audit goes into detail on the company’s communication strategy, social media
practices, media features and a vision for the future.

Current Strategy
• Traditional Media: Disney+ is mentioned in traditional media very often. A total of 1.45k
articles mentioned Disney+ from Sept. 4 to Oct. 3, according to digital analytics tool
Meltwater, a media monitoring tool. Media coverage is mostly centered around
available content on Disney+, how the release will disrupt the streaming service
industry, and how Disney+ will compete with other streaming services such as Netflix
and Amazon Prime Video.

• Press Releases: From Nov. 2018 to Aug. 2019, The Walt Disney Company has released
seven press releases about Disney+. Though small in numbers, these press releases are
an effective way to provide basic information about the streaming service such as the
global launch dates and new content that will be available on Disney+.

• Social Media: Disney+ is very active on its social media platforms, almost posting daily.
Disney+ has been using its social media to promote the content it will have. Content
posted by the company includes movie trailers, movie and TV clips with captions
relating to pop culture and Disney’s take on popular memes. Disney+ uses its social
media to reach its target audience, and encourage viewers to sign up for the streaming
service. High engagement is typical for all posts.

• Disney Events: Disney+ used the D23 Expo as a tool to announce the streaming service’s
upcoming original content and the launch date. Celebrities such as Anthony Mackie,
Sebastian Stan, Angelina Jolie, and the cast of the new high school musical show, made
guests appearances to promote the movies and shows they are starring in. New movies

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 such as Lady and the Tramp and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the
Universe, were also announced (Hunt, 2019). D23 Expo attendees were also offered a 3-
year discount at $141, a 33 percent discount. The D23 website received so many visitors
wanting to sign up for the deal that the website crashed (Clark, 2019).

• Key Messages: Disney+’s key messages to audiences are playful and trendy, yet with a
formal tone. The posts are relatable, especially to a younger millennial audience. Even
with a playful post, the tone is still somewhat formal, which indicates that whoever is
running the account might be older than its key target. Formal posts featuring news
about Disney+ content are also posted regularly.

Social Media Assessment

Facebook (@disneyplus)
Disney+’s Facebook account has 383,469 likes and 410,226 followers, as of October 2019. The
profile picture is the company’s logo, which is consistent with every social media account for
Disney+. The cover photo is a picture of all familiar brands that will be featured on the platform
such as Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and National Geographic. The words “Start Streaming
November 12” is at the bottom, consistent with the Twitter cover photo.

The account promotes new content that will be available on the streaming service and shares
relatable posts about their service’s content. The “about” section of the account includes a
description of Disney+ and the link to the streaming service, which features a countdown to the
launch. The account has not been rated yet.

The account goes through periods where it posts daily, and periods where it doesn't post for
almost a week. Post engagement is moderate, with exceptions for some posts. Posts receive
700 to 49k reactions depending on how often the post is shared and what content is featured
on it. The most popular posts are ones about nostalgic Disney films that will be on Disney+.

From Aug. 22 to Sept. 22, the most engaged posts were “The Lady and the Tramp” trailer, and a
recent Disney+ promotion video. Both were posted Aug. 23, the first day of the D23 Expo (D23,
2019). Both posts were shared heavily, receiving thousands of comments. These posts
represent Disney+’s efforts to get viewers excited not just about past Disney content on the
streaming service, but also future content. The posts appeal to the nostalgia and excitement of
Disney lovers.

Overall, the account posts original content about the streaming service. The Disney+ Facebook
account rarely reposts content from other accounts but when they do, they repost other Disney
accounts. The account has a visitor’s page section, where Facebook users can post questions or
comments about Disney+. The account doesn’t seem to respond to comments, instead fans

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answer each other’s questions. The Disney+ account does not have any responsive certification,
which means it does not respond to direct messages quickly.

Figure 1: “Lady and the Tramp” Facebook Figure 2: “Disney + promotional video”
post Facebook post


Twitter (@disneyplus)
The Disney+ Twitter account has
428,210 followers and follows 82
users, as of October 2019. The
company has the same profile
picture as all of its other social
media accounts to maintain a
uniform look. The cover photo
includes the launch date of the
streaming service and the names
of the Disney-owned
entertainment companies that
will provide content for Disney+.

This account takes a colloquial
approach to engage younger
Twitter users. The official account
makes memes, jokes and utilizes
emojis to promote upcoming
content that will be featured on
the streaming service. Additionally, the Figure 3: Disney meme Twitter post

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account tries to target not only kids who watch Disney now, but also millennials and those who
grew up watching Disney. To do this, the account drafts tweets that provoke nostalgia for old
Disney content that will be featured on Disney+.

According to Keyhole analytics, the account is averaging about 13 posts a week with an average
of 5K likes and 954 retweets per post. Similar to its other social media profiles, Disney+ more
commonly shares original content, but on Twitter, the original content caters more toward
what users engage with the more on the Twitter platform. This includes memes and references
to trending topics or jokes on Twitter. However, the account rarely utilizes the two-way
communication that Twitter offers and does not normally interact with regular Twitter users.
Replies make up 36.36% of the account’s posts, but this percentage is made up of replies to
popular outlets and celebrities instead of the account’s followers. Around 4.05% of the
account’s posts are retweets and 14.14% are “quoted” tweets. The account usually only
retweets or “quotes” tweets that are Disney content or positive articles written about Disney+.
Original tweets make up the remaining 45.45% of the account’s posts.

Between Aug. 19 and Oct. 6, 2019,
the most popular tweet featured the
trailer for the upcoming Star Wars
series, “The Mandalorian.” This show
has garnered the most news
coverage out of every promised piece
of Disney+ content and will premiere
only on Disney’s streaming service.
The tweet also announced that The
Mandalorian will be available to
stream upon the launch of Disney+.
Overall, this tweet got 14.5K
retweets, 52K likes and hundreds of
responses.

According to the analytics, the most
engaging tweets from the Disney+
account have either a link, picture or
video. Users engage more with the Figure 4: “The Mandalorian” tweet
account’s original tweets than any
other posted content as well.

Instagram (@disneyplus)
The Disney+ Instagram account has 990,199 followers, 84 posts and is following 94 users as of
October 9, 2019. The account began posting regularly with at least one post per day, but dialed
back and began posting about every other day around mid-September. The posts include—but

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are not limited to—promotional content for shows
or movies on Disney+, memes that relate to Disney
content, photos of Disney actors and behind-the-
scenes footage of some of the new content
premiering on Disney+.

The most-liked post had a series of photos from the
D23 Expo in August. It has 159,998 likes and 2,252
comments. Each photo within the six-picture post
revealed new Marvel content coming to Disney+.
Being that Marvel is the highest-grossing movie
franchise in the world, it makes sense that people
would want to engage more with posts about new
Marvel content (The Numbers, 2019).

The post with the most comments as of October 9,
2019, features seven photos of old Disney cartoons
that typically only get featured early Saturday
Figure 5: Marvel content Instagram post
mornings. This post indicates that Disney+ will be
bringing back these TV shows on its new streaming
platform and people responded very positively
toward this news. This is just one example of all the
nostalgic Disney content that Disney+ promotes.
This post garnered so much commentary because
people began having conversations with other users
under the post about the “good ol’ days” watching
classic cartoons.

The account normally uses hashtags and direct
mentions to open up engagement. The top hashtags
that rack up the most engagements are as follows:
#lizziemcguire, #regram, #fbf,
#starwarsdemandshonesty and #d23expo.

According to Keyhole analytics, 62.67% of content is
a single-picture post, 14.67% is multiple-photo posts
and 22.66% are video posts. More users tend to
engage with the post if it is a multiple-photo post.

Influencers Figure 6: nostalgic Instagram post

Disney, as an organization, has a large amount

of Instagram influencers. While these influencers mainly focus on the Disney Parks,

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they also share Disney news such as the launch of Disney+. Many of the influencers
have hundreds of thousands of followers that they can reach at any time.

The Disney+’ Twitter account constantly interacts with and retweets Disney celebrity
tweets. For example, Bette Midler posted a gif of herself in the movie Hocus Pocus and
the Disney+ account retweeted it, adding their own comment. The account also posted
to wish Hilary Duff a happy birthday.

In the Media
According to the data analytics software
Meltwater, Disney+ received over 1.84 million
mentions in national traditional and digital
media from January 1 to Oct. 9, 2019. This
coverage ranges from news and reviews of
upcoming content to brief mentions of the new
streaming service in articles about other
streaming competitors. Additionally, Disney+
has received more news coverage during the
week of Oct. 3 – 6, 2019, because the Wall
Street Journal reported on both a dispute Disney
had with Amazon and Disney’s decision to ban
Netflix advertisements on its networks (minus
ESPN).

Out of this content, over 74,000 of these pieces
included coverage of content that will appear on
Disney+. Additionally, Disney+ earned more than
12,800 mentions in conjunction with “the
streaming wars,” a popular name for the
competition for subscribers in the streaming
industry, and almost 400,000 mentions in
articles that compare Disney+ to Netflix. Due to
Figure 7: OK! Magazine story the high volume of articles that compare the
different streaming services, this data can
suggest that although Disney+ receives a large amount of attention, this coverage may be
somewhat brief in nature.

In addition to references and brief mentions, Disney+ receives coverage from entertainment or
pop culture outlets and business outlets. For example, OK! Magazine, a popular entertainment
outlet, ran the story, “10 Reasons Adults Should Be Excited for Disney+” that highlights new
content coming to the streaming platform that adults would enjoy as well as children. This is an
important feature because many negative articles about Disney+ include comments that the
platform would only cater toward kids, so it is crucial to have content that would interest adults

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as well. Markets Insider, an outlet covering big companies’ financial decisions and stock
performances, ran “Why Disney Stock Might Fill the Gap” by Vince Martin. The story explains
Disney’s financial decisions and how Disney+ is a major contributor to Disney’s rising stock. This
indicates that Disney+ receives more than just entertainment coverage.

From November 2018 to August 2019, Disney has released seven press releases about Disney+.
These press releases include information about the launch, new and old content that will be
featured on the streaming service and future plans for developing Disney+. According to
keyword searches on the analytics tool Meltwater, these press releases resulted in over 2,500
pieces of coverage from traditional news media. This may seem miniscule compared to
Disney+’s total amount of coverage, but that shows that each individual press release inspired
over 350 articles in just the United States!

Competitive Analysis

Background
Disney+ is entering a growing industry with well-established competitors. Disney recently
purchased the streaming service Hulu and will be offering bundles with Hulu, ESPN Plus and
Disney+. Even with this partnership, Disney+ still competes with Netflix and Amazon Prime for
consumer and media attention.

Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings (CEO) and Marc Randolph, Netflix is the largest streaming
service in the world with 151 million paid memberships in over 190 countries (Netflix, 2019).
The basic plan ($8.99/month) allows users to stream on one screen at a time, the standard plan
($12.99) allows two screens and the premium plan ($15.99) allows four. The streaming service
features content that is both original and outside of its brand. The streaming service received
27 Emmy awards in 2019 for its original content such as “Ozark” and “When They See
Us” (Pedersen & Utichi, 2019).

Founded in 2006, Amazon Prime Video comes with an Amazon Prime membership – a deal that
gives consumers benefits in both the streaming and retail industries. Amazon Prime has over
101 million members, and by figures alone, this would make the company a leading streaming
service even though these members could use their memberships solely for the retail benefits
(Rey, 2019). Amazon Prime Video is also available in over 200 countries and offers both original
and non-branded video content at $12.99 a month (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners,
2019).

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Social Media Metrics
The following table describes some social media metrics for Disney+ and both of its main
competitors. The data was retrieved from the social media analytic software, Keyhole.

Metrics Disney+ Netflix Amazon Prime Video

Facebook Followers 410,226 61,430,741 10,534,378

Average Reactions Per Facebook Post 1,685 6,904 667

Average Shares Per Facebook Post 92 1,906 119

Average Engagement Rate for Facebook

Twitter Followers 427,790 6,740,970 1,379,402

Average Favorites Per Tweet 5,076 4,927 182

Average Retweets Per Tweet 993 887 32

Average Engagement Rate for Twitter 1.42% 0.09% 0.02%

Instagram Followers 987,614 18,492,208 567,033

Average Likes Per Instagram Post 59,860 363,399 2,912

Average Comments Per Instagram Post 866 3,265 50

Average Engagement Rate for 6.15% 1.98% 0.52%

Instagram

Strategy Comparison: Facebook
All three streaming services have verified accounts on Facebook. Because Netflix has been
established the longest, they have the most followers, at about 61 million. Amazon Prime is the
second oldest and has about 10 million. Since the Disney+ Facebook was only created in April
2018, it only has 410,000. The Netflix Facebook account’s likes and comments reflect this gap in
followers. However, Disney+ receives more likes than Amazon Prime Video on average.

Netflix posts more than five times as much as Disney+. As of Oct. 7, Netflix has a total of 22
posts for the month of October, sometimes even posting six times a day. While Disney+ has
only posted four times. Amazon Prime Video has posted over four times as much as Disney+
with 17 posts for October as of Oct. 7. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video also have a higher
average share per Facebook post. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video comment and interact with
viewers often, whereas Disney+ does not interact or comment at all. These are little things that
can be improved on to make Disney+’ Facebook account more engaging.

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The Netflix and Amazon Prime Video accounts mainly post videos for their content. Disney+
tends to post more photos than Netflix. It is very rare for Netflix to post a photo and Amazon
Prime Video posts them on occasion, but Disney+ will post photos for almost every other post.
Facebook’s algorithm favors videos, so the more videos an account posts, the more people they
will reach (Gaeta, 2019). All three platforms post about new content coming to their streaming
service and catering to fan favorites.

All three accounts have consistent profile pictures throughout all social media platforms. Netflix
and Amazon Prime frequently change their Facebook cover photos when new and popular
content is announced or released. Disney+ recently changed its Facebook cover photo on Sept.
to highlight all the Disney-owned content that will be on the platform such as Star Wars,
National Geographic and Marvel.

From Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, 2019, Netflix’s most popular Facebook post was a clip of its popular show
“Big Mouth,” that featured the cast from another Netflix original “Queer Eye.” The post
received 14,000 likes, 3,600 comments and 1,400 shares. Amazon Prime Video’s most popular
post featured a photo from a scene in the popular Amazon original “Fleabag.” The post
received 2,200 likes, 191 comments and 553 shares. Both posts featured well-known content,
which shows the similarity between the two account’s strategies.

Figure 8: Amazon Prime’s “Fleabag” Figure 9: Netflix’s “Big Mouth” Facebook

Facebook post post

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Strategy Comparison: Twitter
Similar to the followers data for Facebook, Netflix reigns supreme on Twitter with more than 6
million followers, Amazon Prime Video comes second with over 1 million and Disney+ falls
behind at over 400,000 followers. In a surprising twist however, Disney+ has the highest
engagement rate on Twitter. Disney+ leads with an engagement rate of 1.42%, Netflix has .09%
and Amazon Prime Video has .02%.

What makes the Disney+ Twitter account stand out from its competitors?

According to the analytics tool Keyhole, 70.71% of
Netflix’s posts are retweets, but its followers
engage the most with original tweets, which only
make up for 20.20% of the account’s content.
Additionally, Netflix’s Twitter followers are most
likely to engage with the account’s tweets if it has
a photo attached, but only 17.24% of Netflix’s
tweets contain a photo.

The Amazon Prime Video Twitter account is
47.47% original tweets and this aligns with what
its followers are most likely to engage with.
However, while its followers engage most with
photos attached to tweets, only 16.85% of the
account’s tweets have a photo.
Figure 10: Amazon Prime Video’s Twitter
bio

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The digital analytics for the Disney+ Twitter account align more with what its users want to
engage with. For example, Disney+’s following is
more likely to engage with original tweets from the
account, and original tweets make up 45.45% of the
account. Additionally, these followers are most
likely to engage with the tweet if it has a link
attached, and 40% of Disney+’s tweets contain a
link.

All three Twitter accounts try to cater their online
content toward younger users because this is who
the platform attracts. They all post memes, jokes
and try to reference trending topics and relate it to
their company. For example, the Amazon Prime
Video’s bio refers to “Mean Girls,” a popular movie
among younger generations. The bio highlights the
new movie “Hereditary” that is available on Amazon
Prime Video, while referencing the popular quote,
“One time she punched me in the face… it was
awesome,” from the “Means Girls” movie. Each
company is verified on Twitter and uses this
platform to promote upcoming shows and movies Figure 11: Netflix’s “Klaus” tweet
being added to their streaming service.

Netflix averages about three posts per day, 5,562 likes and 1,051 retweets. Its most popular
tweet during the week of Oct. 1 – 8, 2019, was about the premiere of “Klaus,” an animated
kid’s movie, that will appear on Netflix November 15, 2019. This tweet racked up 29,344 likes
and 8,040 retweets. Netflix relies more on retweeting promotional videos, pictures, tweets and
user commentary on Netflix content than posting original tweets. While Disney+ does this as
well, Disney+ varies its post types more than Netflix does.

The Amazon Prime Video account averages about five posts per day, 187 likes and 33 retweets.
It’s most popular tweet during the week of Oct. 1 – 8, 2019, was about Phoebe Waller-Bridge
on SNL. It had 3,467 likes and 658 retweets. On Oct. 3, 2019 the account posted 38 times to live
tweet the Rams vs. Seahawks football game. Many of the tweets included the hashtag:
#TNFonPrime which indicates that the game could be live streamed on Amazon Prime. Overall,
the account makes the effort to always use some sort of humor in each tweet, whether it be to
promote content on the streaming service or live tweet a football game. This strategy relates to
Disney+ because Disney+ has also been incorporating more humor into each tweet.

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Strategy Comparison: Instagram
Instagram is the most popular
account for Disney+ with
987,614 followers. Netflix has
the largest following with
18,492,208 followers and
Amazon Prime Video has the
lowest with 567,033
followers.

According to the analytics tool
Keyhole, Netflix averages
around two posts a day,
284,973 likes and 3,756
comments per post. Posts
from the Netflix account
usually include promotional
content for new shows or
movies on the streaming
platform, memes relating to Figure 12: “The End of the F***ing World” Instagram post by
Netflix and behind-the-scenes Netflix
footage of the creation of Netflix content. Its most popular post for the week of Oct. 1 – 8,
2019, is a promotional TV cover photo for “The End of the F***ing World.” There caption read,
“F***ing finally.” Short and to the point, this caption was far more informal than normal for the
account, but the users enjoyed the blunt humor. This post garnered 1.54 million likes and
32,744 comments.

Amazon Prime Video shares an average of two posts per day, 1,766 likes and 38 comments per
post. Out of the three competitive accounts, Amazon Prime Video receives the least amount of
engagement as well as having the lowest number of followers. The content posted by this
account mostly includes promotional video clips for content on the streaming service, but
occasionally the account will post a meme related to the Amazon Prime Video. This account
relies heavily on video content rather than the more traditional use of pictures on the
Instagram platform. However, according to Keyhole, Amazon Prime Video’s followers are more
likely to engage with photos over video posts. The account’s most popular post during the week
of Oct. 1 – 8, 2019, included a video clip of popular singer/actress Rihanna. The post earned
15,071 likes and 293 comments.

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Figure 13: Amazon Prime Video’s Instagram post featuring Rihanna

In the Media
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ all receive a significant amount of media attention for
being well-known brands. Although Disney+ hasn’t officially come into the streaming market,
Disney+ is considered a top competitor with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video because The Walt
Disney Company is a long-standing, reputable company. In the past year, from January 1 – Oct.
10, 2019, all three companies have garnered a large amount of coverage in the United States.
According to the data analytics software Meltwater, Netflix has earned over 971,000 mentions
in the press this year while Disney+ has received over 80,200 and Amazon Prime Video has
received 54,900 mentions.
Most of these articles discuss new or old content, and news for future releases on each
platform. These articles are published mainly by entertainment outlets. Out of the total 54,900
mentions for Amazon Prime Video, only 325 mentioned Amazon Prime original content and out
of the 971,000 mentions of Netflix, only about 1,100 mentions were about Netflix original
content. This coverage includes more in-depth discussions about each platform rather than a
quick name-drop reference.
Disney has released seven press releases related to Disney+, Netflix has released nine from Oct.
1 – Oct. 9, 2019 and Amazon Prime Video hasn’t released any press releases regarding Amazon
Prime Video within the last few months. Disney+ uses press releases sparingly and notes
important information about what to expect as the platform launches. Netflix, however, sends
out multiple press releases per month and usually discusses new content coming to the

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streaming service. Amazon issues many press releases, but it focuses on the larger retail
company rather than Amazon Prime Video.
Considering Disney+’s coverage in both traditional and digital media, it’s easy to see that the
upcoming streaming service is well-known and considered big competition for others in the
industry, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Although smaller in numbers in
comparison to Netflix, Disney+ makes up for fewer followers with a higher engagement rate.

Works Cited
Clark, T. (2019, August 27). The website offering a deep discount on Disney Plus has
crashed, as people rush to get the deal for the upcoming Netflix competitor.
Retrieved from Business Insider:
https://www.businessinsider.com/d23-website-crashes-down-during-from-disne
y-plus-deal-2019-8
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. (2019, January 17). Amazon Exceeds 100 Million US
Prime Members . Retrieved from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, LLC:
https://files.constantcontact.com/150f9af2201/a37a79a7-0eff-4a38-b05a-ce3c4
59addc2.pdf
D23. (2019, October 10). Welcome to D23 Expo 2019! Retrieved from D23:
https://d23.com/d23-expo-2019/
Gaeta, V. (2019, May 8). Facebook’s Got A New Video Algorithm. Here’s What You Need to
Know. Retrieved from Impact: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/facebook-new-video-
algorithm
Hunt, J. (2019, August 26). Every Disney Movie & TV Series Announced At D23 2019. Retrieved
from Screen Rant: https://screenrant.com/disney-movie-tv-series-news-
announcements-d23-2019/
Pedersen, E., & Utichi, J. (2019, September 22). Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List.
Retrieved from Deadline: https://deadline.com/2019/09/2019-emmy-winners-list-
game-of-thrones-veeop-hbo-netflix-1202740884/
Rey, J. D. (2019, May 3). The making of Amazon Prime, the internet’s most successful and
devastating membership program . Retrieved from Vox:
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/3/18511544/amazon-prime-oral-history-jeff-
bezos-one-day-shipping
The Numbers. (2019, October 9). Movie Franchises. Retrieved from The Numbers:
https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchises/sort/World

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