Bob Iger Isn’t Thanos, He’s Doctor Strange
Disney’s genius foresight, in hindsight…
Disney CEO Robert Iger lifts the 20th Century Fox Infinity Stone and drops it in place alongside the Hulu, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar stones. His weapon complete, Iger now controls the universe.
At the very least, the media universe. Snap.
It’s a great image. The GIF with Mickey Mouse-as-Thanos is equally effective. But it’s also inaccurate. Iger isn’t using the stones to wipe out half of the universe, as Thanos would. He’s using them to dominate a new universe. The streaming universe.
In this regard, in acquiring these stones/properties, Iger is much more akin to another player in the Avengers universe: Doctor Strange. Using the Time Stone, Strange can see into the future and all the possible outcomes for how things will play out. It’s almost as if Iger had such power back in 2006, when he acquired Pixar.¹ And then again in 2009, when he acquired Marvel. And yet again in 2012, when he acquired Lucasfilm. And finally, this year with the acquisition of 20th Century Fox (and with it, a controlling stake in Hulu).
It has been obvious for quite some time that these were savvy business moves. The subsequent success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the latest Pixar and Star Wars movies just makes it all the more apparent. Disney now absolutely dominates the box office like never before.
But actually, there’s a bigger game afoot. This is just now becoming clear as the players take the field with their streaming aspirations. Disney’s entrant, Disney+, launched Monday. And boy what a launch.
10 million accounts in one day. For context, CBS took five years to reach 8 million subs with their entrant. The aforementioned Hulu, which has been out for years, has 28 million subs. Netflix has 60 million in the US (and 97 million more abroad). And Disney itself set a target of 60 to 90 million subs by the end of 2024 — five years from now.
They’re 17% of the way there in one day. One day!
Yes, there are free trial (and Verizon subsidized) caveats. But any way you slice them up, there’s no way these numbers aren’t insanely impressive. And yet at the same time, it shouldn’t be a surprise. We all knew Disney had the best shot to be a success thanks to their back catalog of content and all the aforementioned IP.
And so you have to wonder if Iger foresaw this potential outcome. His previous quotes conveying a lack of interest in upending the cable world order, suggest “no”. But I have to believe that in true Doctor Strange fashion, Iger saw this streaming era we’re now entering as one possible outcome and bulked up his IP portfolio accordingly.
We’re now living in a world where the players are paying $425 million for Friends. $500 million for Seinfeld. $1 billion or more for The Big Bang Theory. For individual shows! Iger got Pixar for $7 billion. Marvel for $4 billion. Lucasfilm for $4 billion. Think about how much those IP treasure chests would go for now? 5x the amounts he paid? 10x? More?
Again, the box office results of these properties was reason enough to do these deals. The tie-ins with merchandise and theme parks is just icing on the Mickey Mouse cake. But these new streaming possibilities with this IP seem almost endless. And potentially most lucrative of all.²
Even if Iger wasn’t sure about this exact outcome a decade ago, if he saw these streaming possibilities at all and factored them into his acquisition calculus, that’s an Avenger-level maneuver.
¹ From Steve Jobs, no less.
² Beyond the money Disney will make from Disney+ itself, this new service will feed right into Disney’s own content flywheel, and will make it spin faster — upping the value of the whole thing.
