Bob Iger, who has been in the position of CEO at Disney for just over three months, talked about significant changes he has implemented in the organization on Thursday at the 2023 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco.
Bob expressed his positivity towards transforming streaming, particularly Disney+, into a profitable piece of the company. “I’m generally bullish on streaming as a great consumer proposition, as a really robust platform to deliver high-quality content,” Iger said. “Eventually, I think everything will migrate to streaming. we have to better rationalize our costs, obviously we have to attract more subs.” Iger also shared that Disney+ needs a “pricing strategy that makes sense.”
“In our zeal to grow global subs, I think we were off in terms of our pricing strategy, and we’re now starting to learn more about it and to adjust accordingly,” The CEO added about the pricing strategy.
Iger then talked about the changes that took place in the company in recent times. “The company had been restructured after I stepped down as CEO to create essentially a giant revenue-generating division… [and] it was completely separated from the content side, which is where all the money was being spent,” he said. “I happen to believe there needs to be a direct connection between what’s being spent and what’s being earned. It’s all about accountability.”
Iger says previous organizational structure had a ‘negative impact’
Bob pointed out that the previous organizational setup of Disney resulted in a lack of coordination on the marketing aspect. “We were spending too much marketing platforms, and not enough marketing the programming that was on the platforms, and I think that may have had a negative impact on our sub growth,” he said.
“Now it’s about getting our content pipeline right, making sure that we’re making the right decisions and making sure that we’re making the right number of decisions in terms of how much we’re making,” Bob said Thursday. “And then it’s I think really being mindful of a world that is not getting any less complicated, and in fact that technology only is going to disrupt more, and making sure that we’re positioning those great brands and this great content-generation business in the right way to deliver the kind of value that shareholders need long term.”