Disney to charge for online content Walt Disney World (WDW) News Discuss Disney to charge for online content in the News & Rumors forums; From Reuters today Disney to charge for online content By Paul Bond Paul Bond – Thu Jul 23, 2:09 am ET LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Disney plans to offer ...

[HauntedGabe]

From Reuters today


Disney to charge for online content

By Paul Bond Paul Bond – Thu Jul 23, 2:09 am ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Disney plans to offer a broad array of its content, including movies, TV shows and games, online to those willing to pay for it -- possibly at a single Web site that requires a subscription, president and CEO Robert Iger said Wednesday.
"The notion of going online at some point as a subscribe-to, robust entertainment experience is pretty attractive to us," Iger said. "We are developing such an experience."
The top Mouseketeer made the remarks Wednesday at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm: Tech conference. Pressed for details by Fortune editor-at-large Richard Siklos, Iger declined.
Disney already is bringing in revenue online. It has joined NBC Universal and News Corp. as a content provider and equity partner in Hulu, which sells advertising. Disney also sells content on iTunes and charges a subscription fee for its Club Penguin site.
But Iger said much more money can be extracted from Web surfers seeking quality content. He noted that consumers spend $5 an hour at theaters to see movies, 75 cents an hour to read books, newspapers and magazines and 50 cents an hour to watch cable and satellite TV, but only 25 cents an hour to surf the Internet.
"There's plenty of room for people to spend more money on things that they're doing online," Iger said.
Siklos noted that Iger is a pioneer in user-generated content, having put "America's Funniest Home Videos" on ABC 20 years ago. Iger said he kicks himself for not taking that concept online.
"Unfortunately, I didn't come up with YouTube," Iger said, noting that while that site might not be profitable, its creators sold it to Google for "a chunk of change."
The Disney chief also said he is bullish on behavioral tracking, claiming that privacy concerns are overblown and generally associated with older consumers. He joked that he has learned more about his two adult daughters from their Facebook pages than from raising them.
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

[harra]

On one of my news sites devoted to Technology New, they quoted Iger as saying that privacy concerns are an issue for "older people" and that the young don't care about such things and was led to believe that Disney will probably be moving toward directions that involve gathering more info about the visitors than "older people" would feel comfortable with

[HauntedGabe]

That paragraph made me scratch my head too. I wonder what the demographics were for D23, maybe they were not "older consumers".
I'm garnering from the quotes Iger wants to squeeze every nickle out of the young. Maybe his data supports the young will sign up for anything.
Iger is right though, being middle aged I am his older consumer, I have no desire to pay to subscribe so Disney can track my behavior and tell me I've overblown my concerns about my families privacy. Hmm.

The part that confused me was Iger believes he can squeeze $.25/hour for Internet usage. Wonder how many hours per month or year he is counting on extracting from this subscription on line venture. He equates it to $5.00/hr. to see a movie or $.75/hr to read a book but how many movies do we Disney Fans see a month/year or books do we purchase.

Wonder in the long run what this will be. Wonder if I will like it. Know one thing Iger could have made his first leak on the project a little more inviting than this press release.

[harra]

Originally Posted by HauntedGabe

The part that confused me was Iger believes he can squeeze $.25/hour for Internet usage. Wonder how many hours per month or year he is counting on extracting from this subscription on line venture. He equates it to $5.00/hr. to see a movie or $.75/hr to read a book but how many movies do we Disney Fans see a month/year or books do we purchase.

The way I read Iger's quote was that his calculations are that we currently spend $.25 per hour on Internet content, not that he plans on charging that. Also that $.25/hr cost he feels we pay to get on the Internet is way cheaper than what we pay per book and movie. So, I guess, he feels there is a gap in entertainment cost that could be filled with premium content.

The other thing I took from the quotes in the article is that he feels people will pay for what they feel is premium content and used YouTube as an example of a free service that doesn't provide premium content (I don't consider YouTube videos to be as high quality as what I get on hulu)

Here is the link to the article I read: Disney's Iger: Content need not be free | Beyond Binary - CNET News

[harra]

Originally Posted by HauntedGabe

I have no desire to pay to subscribe so Disney can track my behavior and tell me I've overblown my concerns about my families privacy. Hmm.

I'm almost 40 and I do feel that the concerns about privacy are overblown. I don't have issue or take issue with companies wanting to know as much about me as possible. As I was saying on Twitter earlier, there is a difference between privacy that protects your financial identity from theft and privacy from the sense of people knowing more about you. The privacy I think is overblown is the one where people get bent out of shape at sites like Facebook that capture a lot of demographic info about me.

I think the writing on the wall is that for the first time the babyboomers may be losing their consumer might because they lost a lot of it in the economic downturn which will make the younger crowd to be the ones with the greater chance of having the buying power. So, I'm expecting to see companies starting to target these groups of people.

But, what Iger fails to realize and it's proven time and time again, this same demographic that has no concern about privacy also has no qualms about stealing content they want

[mini-V]

I agree whole heartedly with your last statement Ray. As a member of the older edge of the demographics and probably not on any of Disney's demographics, I am concerned about keeping some of my personal data personal. Of course if big brother started tracking my television viewing and purchases, maybe there'd be less programs on TV that I consider trash and better quality items in the stores. I just heard on the news that some crooks were targeting and breaking into homes based on information that people put on facebook about being away. The young are too naive to see into the future.

As for Iger and his internet plans, I don't think he's aiming at getting my 25 cents, although I'm sure he wouldn't turn it down. Unlike gas, electricity and water, at least I don't HAVE to join this new venture.

[Disney2000]

Wow. That seems like the new current new disney company is finally admitting to itself. That paragraph sounds like a money hungry company that doesn't care about ANY of the people in demographics or not. Does anyone else think if Walt were around he'd have fired him on the spot? Disney is supposed to be about making magic and making people happy. They should focus on the old Walt Disney PRODUCTIONS....not the Disney COMPANY. They need to be less focused on money, and more focused on content. "Quality will out" said Walt Disney....If you have a good enough product and focus, the money will come in. You should have to work for the money.