No. 154 / Oct 18, 2021
Disney Plus was officially launched on November 12, 2019, in the United States (U.S.), Canada, and the Netherlands as Walt Disney’s online video service. Even before its launch, Disney Plus was anticipated by Disney fans around the world. Although classic Disney movies are still very popular, they have rarely been released on streaming services. As a result, there were limited ways to watch Disney movies at will except, for example, by purchasing a Blu-ray disc for 10 to 20 dollars per movie. When Disney Plus introduced a monthly payment system like Netflix has, it succeeded because customers could watch classic Disney movies at a low price. Eventually, Disney Plus was very successful with a 34% share of the U.S. market, including ranking first in the U.S. application store market in the first quarter after its launch.
Walt Disney announced on September 26 that it had signed an exclusive partnership contract with LG U plus. As a result, Disney Plus’s arrival in Korea was confirmed, and the service was officially launched on November 12. The arrival in Korea was delayed relative to other countries because of deliberations by the Korean Video Rating Committee on content to be included in Disney Plus and contract problems with domestic telecommunications companies.
Disney Plus allows unlimited selection of 8,000 titles held by Disney, Marvel, Pixar, 21st Century Fox, and National Geographic online. It includes global hits such as The Avengers, Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars, Frozen, and The Simpsons. It will also show original content produced in Korea, as well as movies and TV programs produced by ABC, 20th Century Television, 20th Century Studio, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney Plus’s subscription fee for domestic services is 9,900 won per month or 99,000 won per year. Up to seven people can use one account, and up to four people can access it simultaneously. This makes it cheaper than other brands such as Netflix with similar conditions. Disney Plus also releases dramas, including Star Wars live-action dramas, Rockies produced by Marvel Studios, and dramas featuring the Scarlet Witch. The dramas aired on Netflix will be moved here and restreamed. Additional episodes are released weekly. This is different from Netflix, where all episodes are released on the release day.
Disney Plus has the advantage of being able to stream additional videos, which include content that covers most age groups, cheaper fees, and secondary media such as Digital Video Disc (DVD), deleted scenes from movies or dramas, commentary videos, No Good (NG) scenes, and scene videos. However, some expressed concern that as the market is reorganized from platform dominance to content dominance, dependence on overseas content companies may increase, which could reduce the bargaining power and self-sustainability of domestic companies.
By Yu Woo-sang, AG Reporter
tom6070@ajou.ac.kr
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