Netflix & Disney: The 2 giants of entertainment are borrowing strategies from each other in the battle for attention
Disney wants to be more like Netflix...
For the last 3 or 4 years the biggest story in the world of entertainment has been streaming. The old guard of media stood and watched as Netflix's market cap soared past $50bn, $100bn and $200bn in just a few short years.
That rise prompted the rush to streaming. Disney, the global media giant, announced in 2017 they would pull their content from Netflix's platform and build their own (Disney+) — which now boasts more than 100 million subscribers. So in one way, it's easy to frame the last few years as "everyone wants to copy Netflix" but, increasingly, it feels like the other way around.
**...and Netflix wants to be more like Disney**
Disney gets phenomenal use out of its brands. Famous Disney characters are sold as action figures and toys, they are put on t-shirts and clothing and stickers and books — and of course you can go and meet them in a Disney theme park.
So it was interesting that this week Netflix announced Netflix.shop — the first e-commerce site that will sell official merchandise and apparel related to Netflix original shows and characters. The starting selection is fairly sparse, with some apparel related to anime shows Yasuke and Eden and some items related to hit French crime show Lupin — but over time the collection is expected to expand significantly.
The Netflix theme park?
Selling merchandise online is a step, albeit a small one, towards replicating the sprawling empire of Disney. In theory, Netflix's plan could be to eventually go after physical spaces or experiences, such as theme parks — which (in normal times) are an absolute behemoth of a business in their own right for Disney.
