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Disney’s corporate strategy seems to be heavily focused on funneling viewers toward its own streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu, including ESPN+. The company aims to build more direct revenue streams by encouraging subscriptions to its proprietary platforms rather than relying solely on distribution through third-party services like YouTube TV.
With initiatives like offering free access to ESPN’s "College Game Day" on their apps during shutdown periods, Disney is clearly trying to shepherd their audience onto their own platforms, ensuring captured value. However, this approach has led to accusations that Disney is effectively gatekeeping popular content behind higher paywalls, further fueling subscriber dissatisfaction.