Walt Disney’s latest streaming service Disney Plus, which is set to make a debut on November 12, will not be available on Google’s Chromecast and Apple TV.
Popular streaming services not included
Roku, Apple TV, iOS, Google Chromecast, Android TV are some of the most popular streaming devices in the world which will not be supported by Disney Plus. Apart from this, it will include the world’s largest streaming service, Amazon’s FireTV. According to TDG Research, the device has over 34 million active users. Roku comes in second place with 29 million active users.
Disney’s decision to not support popular devices is interesting since they provide users with all the functions of a traditional cable box, but provide programs using the internet instead of a cable. More and more consumers these days are opting for online streaming services instead of cable. Data suggests that about 30% of US broadband users already have access to a streaming device.
What’s more interesting is that FireTV doesn’t have a significant edge over Roku and TDG suggests that in the US, it may actually have the edge over the Amazon service. This is because Amazon promotes its product very aggressively across the world, while Roku focuses almost exclusively on the US.
Will the elimination matter?
For a huge service like Disney Plus, it may be inconsequential to remove the streaming devices. However, this decision may only be temporary. According to film financing platform Slated’s CEO Stephan Paternot, this decision could be because of last-minute negotiations between the two companies. Neither Amazon nor Disney has deliberately done this.
It is important to note that Disney Plus will only release in a select few countries on November 12, including Canada, the US, and the Netherlands. Within a week, the service will also be available in Australia and New Zealand. The company is busy existing its content-licensing deals with streaming services and broadcasters around the world. It is also removing several movies from Netflix. It may not be appealing to the company to debut on FireTV yet, given that it doesn’t have a truly global launch insight.
The real issue for Disney will be in the US where FireTV is very popular and other services, like Chromecast, are experiencing a steady decline. There could be an insight strategic move by the two companies here. Amazon may not want a rival service to hurt Prime Video, and Disney may be planning to take on Amazon’s content available on Fire.
