Disney Is Looking To Downsize Content Production, Reduce Costs

Disney Slated To Downsize Content and Reduce TV Series, Film Costs

Robert Iger at the 95th OSCARS® Nominees Luncheon held at The Beverly Hilton on February 13, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

CEO Bob Iger is building a fresh slate for Disney’s strategy to decrease quantity and increase quality.

Disney is looking to transform its trajectory as it confronts a steady decline in television views and an expansive streaming landscape. CEO Bob Iger is proposing a hopefully fortuitous plan to reduce production volume, amplify quality and restrategize mainstay content.

“I’m really pleased that the support that I’m getting from the content creators of the company is significant and real, and it comes in the form of reducing the expense per content, whether it’s a TV series or a film, where costs have just skyrocketed in a huge way and not a supportable way in my opinion,” Iger said at an investor conference, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The content reduction strategy looks to possibly license to third parties, a taboo notion for a company that values a distinct authority over its content. “For a while that was verboten or something we couldn’t possibly do, because we were so favoring our own streaming platforms,” Iger continued. “But if we get to a point where we need less content for those platforms, and we still have the capability of producing that content, why not use it to grow revenue? And that’s what we would likely do.”

Priority franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, and Frozen will remain exclusive to Disney’s platforms but amongst an oversaturation in content requires a heightened quality in programming. For example, Iger proposes reevaluating the extension of film series past sequels the film and how character ingenuity should be at the fore.

“And if you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness,” he said. “Now, we’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole set of different Avengers, as an example”

Moreover, Star Wars (with three novel saga films under Disney) faced an impasse in Solo. “It gave us pause just to think maybe the cadence was a little too aggressive. And so we decided to pull back a bit,” Iger said. “We still are developing Star Wars films. We’re going to make sure that when we make one, that it’s the right one, so we are being very careful there.”