Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 13, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Group chief Robert Iger announced this on Monday at a media conference in Palm Beach in the US state of Florida.
The announcement reflects a new strategic direction for the company that places greater emphasis on online business. The group had made “quite aggressive” efforts to expand its Internet offering with its well-known brands, Iger said.
Only recently, Disney announced the establishment of “Disney Online Stuidos”. In this new studio unit, the company intends to bring together various activities in games and social communities and create virtual worlds, primarily for children and young people.
According to Paul Yanover, Deputy General Manager of Disney Online, the company currently has a number of smaller and larger projects planned for the online sector. “We believe in the potential of virtual worlds,” he recently told the US trade magazine “The Hollywood Reporter”.
Disney has recognised that users now place greater value on content and games and is attempting to adapt its online offering more closely to users’ wishes. Games in particular are a sought-after segment. “Games are already an important part of Disney.com and the main reason why children and their parents visit the site,” says Yanover.
Disney already generates a significant share of its total income online. The main focus here is advertising revenue from marketing its own productions on the Internet.
The group thus receives money generated, among other things, by repeats of popular television series such as “Lost” or “Grey’s Anatomy” on the website of Disney’s television channel ABC.
The company also generates a further share of its revenue through music and film downloads and subscriptions to online games.
Last year, Disney generated total revenue of 35.5 billion dollars. However, online income still accounts for a relatively small share of total revenue, at three per cent. The lion’s share continues to come from the television channels, Disney parks and the cinema division, which most recently scored successes with box-office hits such as “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
The company’s increased online commitment is intended to change this ratio in future and significantly increase Internet revenue.
