Disney “Takes Over” New Streaming Service with 75 Million Users

When Disney+ entered the streaming game on November 12, 2019, the company had no idea that just a few months later, COVID-19 would cause a global pandemic, shutting down nearly every business in the world, and leaving humanity stuck at home, looking for some form of entertainment to keep them occupied. Less than two years later, Disney+ would reach a significant milestone by amassing 100 million subscribers worldwide. This was even more impressive, considering that the company had initially set a goal of 60 to 90 million users by 2024. In 2023, the company hit a whopping 150 million subscribers.

While Disney+ is a strong contender in the streaming wars, they are not at the top, in fact, they are in third place. According to Statista, Netflix had “247.2 million paid subscribers worldwide as of the third quarter of 2023”. It is also reported that Amazon Prime “currently have over 200 million Amazon Prime subscribers around the world”.

However, with Disney+ and Hulu launching a unified streaming app (as both streaming companies are Disney-owned) called Hulu on Disney+. As stated by CNET, “The merged streaming app that combines Disney Plus and Hulu will launch as a beta version in December for US customers. Disney first revealed its plans for a single streaming service during its second-quarter earnings call this past May. At the time, CEO Bob Iger shared that both services would also remain available as standalone options.”

Iger said the fully unified app will roll out for US subscribers in late March 2024.

According to Tech Report, “Hulu has about 42.8 million paying subscribers.” While it is not clear how many of these subscribers are also Disney+ subscriber, this merger will certainly boost Disney’s numbers, leaving them as a real threat to Amazon Prime.

Now, Disney+ has made yet another merger with a streaming company, but this one looks a little different.

Cinderella Castle is set to take over Roku, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter.

Cinderella Castle is the icon of Walt Disney World Resort, and often what guests think about when they think of the Disney parks, making it the perfect icon for Roku to display during this “take over” without having to spell it out for Roku users. The power of symbolism works strong here thanks to years of Disney’s branding.

This merger is taking place to celebrate the Disney100 celebrations, and also includes the iconic Partner Statue with Walt Disney holding onto the hand of Mickey Mouse.

Peter Hamilton, senior director of ad innovation at Roku sat down with THR and said, “What is more memorable and nostalgic than the Walt Disney World castle?” He continued, “It truly embodies the creative imagination behind Roku City, and in this way, it signifies a beautiful marriage of beloved places for our viewers. I know they will be inspired to see these worlds come together in an unmissable way.”

It seems that Disney bought the ad space now since, “many families home for the holidays, Disney and Roku are hoping to drive awareness for Disney World as a place to celebrate together.” While Roku acts as its own streaming service with 75 million users, it also is a TV app that connects every streaming service that users can imagine, making it more inclusive to others instead of being competition.

Roku now rents out ad space on their system, which we saw earlier this year as Paramount took over the Roku city to promo their Barbie film.

Hamilton also spoke out on how accuracy matters when placing Cinderella Castle into their Roku city, “Our incredible visual quality design team takes great pride and care in the creative vision for Roku City. As such, they work across teams at Roku and closely with our partners to ensure that brands are integrated organically, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the viewer experience,” Hamilton says.

“We strive to bring fun and whimsical exploration of brands and IP that also feel as though they live inside Roku City, not injected from the outside. Cinderella’s Castle from Disney is a powerful example of real-world IP, which creates another layer of connection to our imaginary cityscape.”

Funny enough, Hamilton may have done a lot of research regarding the castle, but he did not get the name right, as it is not intended to ever be spoken or spelt as possessive (Cinderella Castle, not Cinderella’s Castle). However, even The Hollywood Reporter got the name of the iconic landmark wrong in their headline, so it may have been an editing issue on the publication’s end if this was a spoken interview.

A timeline for this Roku takeover was not confirmed, however, if the goal is to use it during the holiday season, it is likely that Roku users will see Cinderella Castle on their cityscape for the remainder of 2023.

Related: Disney+ Subscription Savings Are Finally Available On Roku

This form of marketing is yet another way for Disney to combine their dominance in the theme park industry with their streaming audience, as most Roku users who like Disney, will have the Disney+ app on their Roku account.

What do you think about this new takeover with Disney on Roku? 

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This post is originally appeared on Inside the Magic.