Sarah

110042026
Online Streaming Service War:
Netflix vs. Disney plus
Outline

Introduction:
In terms of the online entertainment services, Netflix is one of the first runner,
which is launched back in 2007; however, Disney plus, only launching in November
2019, has gained more and more popularity. As one who subscribes both, I can’t help
wondering which will prevails one another.
Thesis:
Netflix and Disney plus are competitive in different aspects, the future of online
streaming service war is unknown. In my opinion, compared with such huge
competitors, Netflix is still best online streaming service.
Essay Map:

I. Price: how their subscription works

A. Netflix: $7 to $20 per month (basic with ads, basic, standard, premium)
i. Law price with high quantity
B. Disney plus: $12 per month
i. Relatively high price and lower quantity
II. User experience: content, special features, and their own strengths
A. Netflix: (2,388 TV shows, 4,378 movies), award-winning shows,
consistently original production, diverse collection, like reality shows
B. Disney plus: (798 TV shows, 2,611 movies), century-old children classic,
lots of strong IP, exclusive titles from Star Wars and Marvel
III. Overall strategy: their fundamental difference and potential
A. Netflix: grow slowly? >> Glocalization?
B. Disney plus: (Disney) a long-existing brand >> Disney ecosystem?

Conclusion:
Through comparing their price, user experience, and potential direction, we can
see that different business model made them have different strategy, and the future is
unknown. But personally, Netflix will always be my favorite online streaming
platform.
 Online Streaming Service War:
Why Netflix is way better than Disney plus?

In the era of digital service, it is common for us to use portable devices to enjoy
different kinds of entertainment at anywhere, anytime. When it comes to online
streaming platform, the thrilling scene in Squid Game, the educational and touching
stories in Sex Education, the worldwide craze over the Queen’s Gambit in 2020…
remembering those memorable series, Netflix will immediately come to my mind.
Starting its business back in 2007, Netflix is one of the first runner in the market,
which owns 222 million subscribers all over the world in 2022; however, Disney plus,
only launching in November 2019, with total of 137.9 million subscription, has
gained more and more popularity in recent years. For people wondering which one
is more worthy to pay for every month, myself as one who subscribes both, I
would highly recommend Netflix as our first choice. Compared with Disney plus,
Netflix wins my heart in three aspects---- price, user experience, and the blueprint in
the future.
First thing first, let’s talk about how their subscription works. As of 2022, Netflix
has 4 separate price tiers from $6.99 per month to $22.99 per month, including basic
with ads, basic, standard, and premium plan. The choose between four different plans
depends on which video quality you prefer, how many simultaneous streams you want
and whether there will be ads or not. However, Disney plus only provides one
subscription plan, which cost $12 per month without any ads.
You may think that almost every audience hates ads, how can the Netflix basic
ad-based plan work? In fact, the Netflix with ads $7 plan promises only 4 to 5
minutes of commercials per hour of content; also, the ads do not operate as pop-up
surprises, there will be yellow dots on the progress bar to indicate when and how
many ad breaks will appear in a TV show or movie. Compared with Disney plus,
Netflix has more subscription plans to choose based on customer’s needs and comes
with more affordable price.
In terms of user experience, both Netflix and Disney plus do a good job, as they
are available through various interfaces across a wide range of devices. And two
services offer similar designs, with content laid out in rows and sorted into categories
that simplify the task of finding new movies and shows to watch, and they also use
subscribers’ viewing history data to recommend new content to them. Even though
both Netflix and Disney plus utilize algorithm in sorting through different categories,
Hastings, the former CEO of Netflix, when being asked about how he imagines
schools since he donates lots of his millions into it, he replied “Think about it as with
multiple kids, there are all different needs, that need to be met, so there is not anyone
model, and being able to choose depending on your kid, and what you think they
need”. Therefore, Netflix content is diversified. People can go through whatever they
like to watch, no matter what their mood is.
In comparison with Disney plus, which organizes its programming into the big
five brands: Disney, Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar, and Star Wars, Netflix
attempts to suggest new video shows that customers will like based on many criteria;
for example, viewer’s interactions with the Netflix service (such as watch history, and
ratings for other titles), other members of services who have similar likes and
preferences to viewers, and some information about the video, such as genre, actors,
year of release, etc. It makes Netflix’s interface personalized and constantly changing,
creating a great experience for people who likes to explore different contents to binge-
watch.

Secondly, with much more affordable price, Netflix offers over 6000 titles for
audience to enjoy (2,388 TV shows, 4,378 movies), ranging from scientific-thriller,
romantic comedies, to reality shows. Furthermore, it is notable that one of the biggest
factors that draw subscribers to Netflix is its vast library full of original contents with
high quality, such as The Witcher, The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit, and Emily in
Paris, just to name a few. Every year, Netflix not only invests heavily in original
productions but also take a great step in true crime documentaries and reality TV; for
example, “Making a murderer,” “Our planet,” “Dirty money,” and Anime is a well-
represented on Netflix as well. According to Statistics, in 2020, Netflix has
received 160 nominations at the Emmys, which is worth praising compared to other
platforms. (See figure 1) With so many excellent trending original contents, more and
more dominant actors are motivated to participate in Netflix’s original productions,
like Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Tom Hardy, and Aidan Gillen (Peaky Blinders),
Viola Davis (how to get away with murder?), Jonah Hill, and Emma Stone (Maniac) ,
and this gives new advantage to Netflix concerned with the fan base.
 (Figure 1: Number of nominations and wins for Netflix originals)

With only 3000 titles (798 TV shows, 2,611 movies), Disney Plus owns some of
the most popular entertainment franchises in the world – Marvel and Star Wars. The
platform includes shows and movies set in those worlds you can't watch anywhere
else; for example, The Mandalorian, Wanda Vision, Loki, She-Hulk: Attorney at
Law, and more. Moreover, Disney Plus also streams content from Pixar and National
Geographic, and has century-old, animated classics catering to adults and children as
well. Holding the ownership of so many strong intellectual properties, Disney plus
becomes a strong threat to Netflix, but just like a double-edged sword, it also makes
them weak.

The contents they offer may not appeal to all consumers, compared with wide
range of contents Netflix provide, Disney plus features more family-friendly content
compared with Netflix, which could be considered an extension of the Disney
Channel, which is not fitted with every household needs; for example, the family who
doesn’t have kids, and some adults have already “outgrown” Disney stuffs, they may
not have strong appeal to subscribe for their childhood dream. In terms of the content
from Star Wars and Marvel, they did attract a bunch dedicated fans to subscribe
Disney plus; nevertheless, not every fan would run for Disney plus, maybe some
people have already owned the DVDs of their favorites, then they may not want to
pay additional money for same contents; furthermore, it is obvious that not every
original series connected with Marvel successful, which depends on the popularity of
the character or whether it can create a buzz on the Internet or not, there’s no perfect
formula in creating originals, and it may not be an enough push to the fans. (See
figure 2) Compared with Disney plus, as we just mentioned above, Netflix owns a lot
of strong originals as well, which not only equips Netflix with more diverse fans base,
but also brings anticipation when the new season is coming. (See figure 3)

（Figure 2: Numbers of Marvel Disney Plus series premieres）

(Figure 3: Most popular English-language Netflix TV shows, by number of hours viewed)

 In short, even though Disney has many strong IPs (Intellectual Property) on its
platform, Netflix has an overwhelming quantity and genres to choose in library, not to
mention the outstanding performance on its own productions, which stands out from
Disney plus in my opinion.

Finally, when we take a closer look on their overall strategy, we can find that it is
their fundamental differences that make them go on different path to go-to-market.
Disney is a long-existing brand, which is more like a wish-granted factory to all ages,
what they should do is to re-manufacture old concept to keep creating and selling
dreams to fans; nevertheless, Netflix doesn’t work like that, they don’t have such
strong background recourses to fetch, so they must consistently re-generating
themselves, trying to create reliable brand positioning to stretch their services to every
corner in the world.

In 2019, Netflix had launched its cheapest subscription plan in India only for
mobile users around $3/month. In a country of 1.3 billion people, its investment has
increased at a faster rate than any other market, has 13 new films and 9 original new
series on the platform; also, Netflix is trying to produce region-specific content in
their local languages, which has proven beneficial and an added value for the firm.
For example, “La Casa de Papel” is a Spanish series but also became a very popular
show in all countries where Netflix operates. Not to mention the Indian series “Sacred
Games” that is preparing for the second season to be released soon. And this is how I
love Netflix so much, as they are always innovative and take bold steps to try new
things for audience around the world to enjoy. (See figure 4 and 5)

Disney plus however, with the negative connotation associated with the “Disney-
ization” of society, a concept that hypothesizes that Disney’s influence has spread so
widely and rapidly that the company’s presence is everywhere, may have some
backslash on them; moreover, even though Disney has been trying to emphasize
political correctness in recent years, the move brought some controversy and even
boycott. This may have bad impact on the growth of Disney plus. (See figure 6)

Through comparing their price, user experience, and potential direction, we can
see that different business model made them have different strategy, but personally,
Netflix will always be my favorite online streaming platform.
(Figure 4: Predominant formulas in Netflix’s original content per year)

(Figure 5: Language evolution in Netflix’s original content)

(Figure 6: Disney CEO’s conflict with Florida Gov. over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill)
Reference:
l Netflix’s help center: https://help.netflix.com/zh-tw/node/100639
l Mohamad Kanso, Swot analysis on Netflix, 2018
l Jordan Sturgill, Beyond the Castle: An Analysis of the Strategic Implications of
Disney plus, 2019
l Disney SWOT Analysis 2022: https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-disney-
2019-disney-swot-analysis/
l Netflix SWOT Analysis 2022: https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-netflix-
2019-netflix-swot-analysis/
l Disney Plus vs Netflix December 2022: Which prevails:
https://www.finder.com.au/disney-plus-vs-netflix-streaming-tv-
comparison#:~:text=To%20get%20a%20like%2Dfor,helps%20you%20save%20
even%20more.
l Disney Plus vs Netflix: Ultimate Streaming Platform Comparison Guide:
https://techdaily.ca/disney-plus-vs-netflix
l The Rise of Netflix: A Data Analysis:
https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-rise-of-netflix-a-data-analysis-
9cbd3e00d736
l The Fascinating History of Netflix:
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/the-fascinating-history-of-netflix
l Disney plus vs. Netflix: Which streaming service is right for you?
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/disney-plus-vs-netflix/
l Netflix Review: With or Without Ads, Still the Best Streaming Service
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/netflix-review-still-the-best-
streaming-service/