Disney have announced a new UK streaming service, DisneyLife, which will be aimed at the family market. The service, which will cost £9.99 per month, will contain a range of content including films, music and books. The launch is a radical alteration in the company’s business practice, which has previously relied on other distributors such as Amazon Prime and Netflix to reach online audiences.
Bob Iger, chief executive and chairman of The Walt Disney Company has stated, “Families are accessing entertainment in completely new ways but their love for Disney and our unique characters and stories remains the same”. DisneyLife will allow the company a direct relationship with the consumer, a business model already employed by HBO.
With more and more distributors creating their own content, from Amazon and Netflix to Sony’s Playstation Now, providers of online streaming media are forming a diverse and competitive market. DisneyLife will allow customers access to hundreds of music albums and books, alongside the complete catalogue of Pixar films, Disney Classics such as The Lion King and Snow White, and many of the children’s TV series aired on the Disney Channel.
Although the company has previously distributed its content through other providers, there have always been films absent from subscription based services, including The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. A full list of content for DisneyLife is yet to be released. The service will be available in five languages; English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, noticeably ignoring other UK languages such as Welsh, Gaelic and Scots. Disney will also not be using the platform to distribute its content from the Marvel or Star Wars franchises.
The service will be launched in November this year, just in time for the festive holidays.
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