Disney Chief Executive Josh D'Amaro said the company’s long-term strategy will rest on three pillars: investing in intellectual property and creativity, reaching more consumers around the world and using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence to power storytelling and lift monetization.
In a letter to shareholders released in the latest quarter, D'Amaro said AI could touch five parts of Disney’s business — content creation and production, monetization, workforce productivity, guest and consumer experiences and enterprise operations. He said the company would keep human creativity at the center of any rollout and respect creators and the value of its intellectual property.
D'Amaro took over from Bob Iger in mid-March, giving the strategy letter added weight as Disney continues to sort through the next phase of its streaming business. The company has spent heavily on streaming, content, technology and marketing, and it is still trying to improve engagement, retention and monetization across its platforms.
The streaming push is starting to show up in the numbers. Revenue growth in Disney’s subscription video on demand category reached double-digits for the first time in the latest quarter, helped by last year’s rate increases and higher volume through international wholesale agreements, D'Amaro said. Disney is now targeting at least 10% growth in subscription video on demand for the full year.
D'Amaro also wrote that there is no single move that will fully optimize Disney’s streaming business on its own. Instead, he said the company expects the compounding effect of many incremental changes over time to improve engagement and retention. Disney launched Verts on Disney+ in March to make content easier to discover and to spur more interaction on the platform, and D'Amaro said the company is encouraged by the momentum it is seeing from the effort.
That push comes with tradeoffs. D'Amaro said the Verts work could lead to quarter-to-quarter swings in results, even as Disney tries to build steadier growth. On the technology side, Disney also said it will not move ahead with a planned investment in OpenAI after the company shut down its Sora platform, though D'Amaro said Disney continues to look for opportunities to work with OpenAI and other firms.
