Analysts Predict Bob Iger’s Number One Priority Obsession Will Pay Off in 2024

The future of The Walt Disney Company lies within streaming.

Disney World

At least, that’s what Bob Iger said when he shared that streaming and transforming Disney+ was his main priority as he continues his leadership as the CEO of Disney. At the final quarterly earnings call of 2023, Iger shared that Disney+ increased domestic subscribers by 7 million, and the company is set to profit from the platform for the first time since before the pandemic by the end of 2024. Disney+ isn’t the only thing on Disney’s radar, though, as they recently acquired the remainder of shares in Hulu, and could branch out further. Now, folks are making predictions regarding the future of streaming —  and we found some of them to be interesting.

CNBC interviewed 13 (anonymous) former and current entertainment, media, and sports executives at major companies to share their predictions on the successes and downfalls of media giants in 2024. Within those predictions were thoughts on the future of streaming, and Disney was mentioned a few times.

Prediction 1: NBA rights will go to Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and/or Apple

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is aiming to hand off media rights, which is being closely followed by sports fans, executives, and analysts everywhere. One executive predicts that media rights will be given to Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, who have already shown interest in “maintaining carriage relationships” with the NBA and have expressed that they’re financially prepared to take on the job.

Mickey and Minnie

However, the NBA has mentioned that they’re looking for a “robust streaming option,” which is where Apple would make sense, according to this exec.

Prediction 2: The College Football Playoff won’t get a rights fee increase, because ESPN will be the only significant bidder.

Similar to the NBA situation, the College Football Playoff (CFP) “may be the next most important rights deal to be renewed next year. The CFP is currently under a 12-year contract with ESPN, which ends after the 2025 playoff.

©ESPN

After the 2025 playoff, the CFP will expand from four teams to 12, which the CFP is hoping will sound enticing to major sports broadcasting companies — and is seeking a hefty price for media rights. However, this executive predicts that because of ESPN’s “desperation” for live rights as they pivot to utilizing a direct-to-consumer service, ESPN will be the highest bidder, and CFP won’t get as much for media rights as they were hoping.

Prediction #3: Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, Netflix, and Disney will offer the first significant streaming bundle.

Media execs and analysts have predicted for years that companies will eventually partner up to offer a significant streaming bundle that’s offered similar to the way channels are offered on traditional cable TV. However, this has yet to happen. One exec thinks that 2024 will be the year that it does!

©Netflix

They say that 2024 will be the year that we see Disney partner with Max and Netflix to offer one big streaming bundle that includes the two latter platforms as well as Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu — at a discount. However, a separate exec chimed in here and said that if this discount were to happen, a separate anchor distributor would have to step in. They mentioned Amazon as the key distributor, here.

And there you have it! We’ll continue to keep you updated with more Disney news, so make sure to follow along so that you’re always in the loop.

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What do you think of these streaming predictions? Let us know in the comments! 

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