YouTube is free.
Disney+ is not.
Kids don’t typically have an income source. There you go, mystery solved.
You’re right. They should make a Disney- free streaming channel, to get people hooked
This could go well beyond viewership for them.
Growing up we didn’t have the Disney channel. Back then it was a premium, paid channel. So with the options being renting tapes, seeing theatrical releases, or the special weekends where the channel was free, I watched very Disney growing up.
Now, as an adult, I have little connection to their characters, movies, shows, etc. I see others my age making yearly treks to Disney World and I don’t have the same draw. I see people buying Disney merch, and again, I don’t have the same need.
And because I don’t have strong nostalgia feelings for Disney, I didn’t raise my kids on Disney either.
If kids aren’t connecting with the Disney IP, as they grow up, they could end up like me - an adult that spends little to no money with Disney.
And that would be a major disaster beyond viewership for them.
That’s Disney’s strategy right there - get them hooked as kids, then when they become adults with disposable income, they’ll spend it all on Disney. They’re creating lifetime customers.
You say that likes it’s a bad thing, but you’re describing a “fan”, someone who likes a thing and wants to spend their disposable time, energy, and money on that.
I don’t say this to specifically defend Disney, but rather to push back on the hyperbolic language. As an example by absurdity: you could say that the RIAA pushes band, string, choir, etc classes in grade school onto kids to get them hooked on music so that more kids will be hooked on music as adults.
Nobody is saying spending time, energy, or resources on something you love is a bad thing. What’s a bad thing is when it’s predatory and manipulative, which Disney (and capitalism in general) absolutely is.
My kids grew up going to Disney parks and watching Disney movies. Back when both were not shit.
Youtube is surely better.
Spiderman, Elsa, YouTube has it all!
I watch PBS, my kids are watching it too.
