The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger has been discussing some of the company’s plans in terms of its streaming services as part of its Q4 2024 earnings call.
Disney recently hired former YouTube exec Adam Smith to oversee technology development and deployment in streaming, networks, advertising, and production.
Asked about Smith’s priorities and the impact they might have on Disney+ and the company’s other streaming products, Iger said: “Adam is already hard at work and making progress in improving the technology across all of our streaming businesses, and he’s got a number of priorities [including] personalisation, customisation, and design initially to improve engagement.
“By adding stronger recommendation engine capabilities on the homepage, we’re already seeing increased engagement in a very short period of time.”
Iger added that the company is working on unifying its tech stacks, including media serving and the entire advertising stack across Disney+ and Hulu.
“Obviously, what we’re doing here is designed not only to create a better customer experience but to increase engagement and reduce churn,” he said.
The CEO also discussed plans for Disney to expand its production spending in EMEA, admitting that the company had “slowed down” its investment in the market.
“We’re being careful about our overall investment until we get the technology right, because if we can use technology to reduce churn, which we’re already doing, then, in reality, what we’re doing is increasing return on our investment in content.
“We don’t want to spend on the content side until we’re confident that we can get the necessary returns on those investments,” he continued. “But we know, as we look to grow our streaming business, that prioritising markets outside the United States with specific content in those markets will be part of that strategy. I don’t think you should consider those investments to be enormous in nature by any stretch of the imagination because we know that we’re making content that has global application.”
As part of its Q4 2024 earnings report, Disney revealed it added more than four million “core” subscribers during the quarter, and now has more than 120 million core subscribers. However, it warned it expects to see a “modest drop” in subscribers in Q1.
