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Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix

The day has arrived. Today, Disney+ launched its ad-supported tier, “Disney+ Basic,” at $7.99/month. The plan is currently only available in the U.S. and will become available in other countries sometime next year.
Image Credits: Disney+
“Today’s launch marks a milestone moment for Disney+ and puts consumer choice at the forefront. With these new ad-supported offerings, we’re able to deliver greater flexibility for consumers to enjoy the full breadth and depth of incredible storytelling from The Walt Disney Company,” Michael Paull, president of Direct to Consumer, said in a statement.
Netflix has its work cut out for it if it wants to compete successfully with Disney+’s new ad-supported tier. For instance, Disney+ Basic not only lets viewers stream high-quality video, including Full HD, HDR10, 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision and Expanded Aspect Ratio with IMAX Enhanced, but it also lets subscribers stream on up to four supported devices simultaneously. Plus, the ad plan includes Disney+’s full content catalog.
Netflix’s ad-supported plan, on the other hand, only supports 720p HD video quality, subscribers can only stream on one device at the same time and around 5% to 10% of Netflix’s content library is missing due to licensing restrictions.
Neither Disney+ Basic nor Netflix’s “Basic with ads” plan allows offline viewing or downloads.
Other features not included in the Disney+ Basic plan at launch are GroupWatch, SharePlay and Dolby Atmos. A Disney spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company hopes to support this in the future, but the exact timing is unknown.
Ads will range from 15 to 30 or 45 seconds long, the spokesperson added. As we previously reported, Disney+ is limiting the total ad load to an average of four minutes of commercials an hour. Preschool content has zero ads.
Image Credits: Disney+
Also, the company revised the Disney Bundle. The Disney Bundle Duo (Disney+ Basic and Hulu’s ad plan) will cost $9.99/month. There’s also the Disney Bundle Trio Basic (Disney+ Basic, Hulu’s ad plan and ESPN+) will be $12.99/month and the Disney Bundle Trio Premium is priced at $19.99/month.
Alongside the launch, Disney+ increased the price of its Premium ad-free subscription to $10.99/month, up from $7.99. So while it may seem that Disney+ is launching a cheaper tier, the reality is that subscribers will have to pay the same price for a plan that will now get ads.
Research firm Kantar found that 23% of existing Disney+ subscribers plan to switch to the new tier, Deadline reported. That means more than 37 million subscribers could choose to pay the same price they always have but for an arguably “downgraded” subscription plan.
Hulu, the Disney-owned streaming service, also got a price hike, along with the Disney Bundle and Hulu Live TV.

Disney is increasing the price of its ad-free Disney+ subscription to $10.99

The main reason Disney+ launched its ad-supported tier was to open up its streaming service to new subscribers. Disney previously said that the new tier will keep the company on track to reach its target of 230-260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024. The streamer reported an impressive total of 164.2 million global subscribers in Q4 2022, which includes 46.4 million domestic subscribers.
Also, Disney’s direct-to-consumer division lost $1.5 billion, so the ad-supported tier is a potential new revenue stream for the company. The streaming giant boasted in today’s announcement that Disney+ Basic is launching with over 100 advertisers.
“Today, we welcome Disney+ with ads to the largest, most diverse and impactful portfolio in the industry. We are committed to connecting our clients to the best storytelling in the world while delivering innovation and viewer-first experience in streaming now and in the future,” said Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising.

Disney+ is getting an ad-supported subscription tier later this year

Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix

Bob Iger is returning to head Disney as Bob Chapek steps down

The Walt Disney Co. said today that Bob Iger is returning to head the company as Bob Chapek is stepping down from the CEO post. Iger, who officially left the company last year, is set to take the command immediately. The company said that he will serve as the CEO for two years.
“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period,”  Chairman of the Board Susan Arnold said in a letter.
“Mr. Iger has the deep respect of Disney’s senior leadership team, most of whom he worked closely with until his departure as executive chairman 11 months ago, and he is greatly admired by Disney employees worldwide–all of which will allow for a seamless transition of leadership.”
The company said that there is no change in the board and Arnold will continue to serve as a chairman.
Iger served as Disney’s CEO from 2005 to 2020 for 15 years before deciding to step down and hand over the reins to Chapek. Notably, Chapek signed a three-year extension contract with the company in June.
On his return, Iger said that optimistic about Disney’s future and was thrilled to return to the company.
“Disney and its incomparable brands and franchises hold a special place in the hearts of so many people around the globe—most especially in the hearts of our employees, whose dedication to this company and its mission is an inspiration. I am deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team, with a clear mission focused on creative excellence to inspire generations through unrivaled, bold storytelling,” he said in a statement.
In his previous stint, Iger oversaw major acquisitions like Pixar, Marvel, and 21st Century Fox. The returning CEO also sent an email to the Disney Staff including cast members saying they’ll hear more about this move from the leadership “tomorrow and in coming weeks.”

Email from Bob Iger to Disney staff, 7:19 p.m. pic.twitter.com/IiTQvBYYZp
— The Ankler (@TheAnkler) November 21, 2022

Chapek’s 11-month tenure hadn’t been great for the company as its stock value has dropped by more than 40% at the time of writing. He was also criticized for not taking an active stance to oppose Florida’s anti-gay bill. Under his management, the company fired senior content executive Peter Rice and passed up an opportunity to get digital rights for streaming the Indian Premier League Cricket tournament.
The company registered a revenue of $20.2 billion in Q3 2022 and missed analyst expectations by nearly $1 billion. At that time, Disney’s CFO Christine McCarthy said that the entertainment company aims to achieve profitability by the fiscal year 2024. The company adjusted its target of global Disney+ subscribers by 2024 from 230-260 million to 215-245 million.
Bob Iger is returning to head Disney as Bob Chapek steps down by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch
Bob Iger is returning to head Disney as Bob Chapek steps down

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K

Disney+ today relaunched as a native app on PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles, which now supports PS5 capabilities like 4K HDR (High-Dynamic Range) streaming. The company also relaunched Star+, Disney+’s streaming service for Latin American subscribers.
PS5 users experienced various issues with the old Disney+ app, which was designed for PS4 compatibility. Subscribers reported crashes, log-in errors, poor video playback and poor sound quality. Hopefully, the new native PS5 app won’t have the same issues.
Also, Disney+ and Star+ subscribers could only stream content at 1080p resolution on the console. As of today, PlayStation5 users can experience higher video quality at no extra cost. Other streaming services like Netflix and YouTube TV charge subscribers a higher fee for 4K content.
“The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans,” said Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product & Design, Disney Streaming, in a statement.
Star+ launched in 2021, and is a standalone streaming service in Latin America that offers entertainment content from Disney, FX, 20th Century Studios, Star Original Productions, National Geographic and more. It also streams live sports from ESPN.
The streamer is available in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Disney will fuel international growth with Star brand and Star+ app

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K

AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones

From the cringe-inducing Jar Jar Binks to unconvincing virtual Leia and Luke, Disney’s history with CG characters is, shall we say, mixed. But that’s not stopping them from replacing one of the most recognizable voices in cinema history, Darth Vader, with an AI-powered voice replica based on James Earl Jones.
The retirement of Jones, now 91, from the role, is of course well-earned. But if Disney continues to have its way (and there is no force in the world that can stop it), Vader is far from done. It would be unthinkable to recast the character, but if Jones is done, what can they do?
The solution is Respeecher, a Ukrainian company that trains text-to-speech machine learning models with the (licensed and released) recordings of actors who, for whatever reason, will no longer play a part.
Vanity Fair just ran a great story on how the company managed to put together the Vader replacement voice for Disney’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” — while the country was being invaded by Russia. Interesting enough, but others noted that it serves as confirmation that the iconic voice of Vader would officially from now on be rendered by AI.
This is far from the first case where a well-known actor has had their voice synthesized or altered in this way. Another notable recent example is “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which the voice of Val Kilmer (reprising his role as Iceman) was synthesized due to the actor’s medical condition.
That sounded good, but a handful of whispered lines aren’t quite the same as a 1:1 replacement for a voice even children have known (and feared) for decades. Can a small company working at the cutting edge of machine learning tech pull it off?
You can judge for yourself — here’s one compilation of clips — and to me it seems pretty solid. The main criticism of that show wasn’t Vader’s voice, that’s for sure. If you weren’t expecting anything, you would probably just assume it was Jones speaking the lines, not another actor’s voice being modified to fit the bill.
The giveaway is that it doesn’t actually sound like Jones does now — it sounds like he did in the ’70s and ’80s when the original trilogy came out. That’s what anyone seeing Obi-Wan and Vader fight will expect, probably, but it’s a bit strange to think about.
It opens up a whole new can of worms. Sure, an actor may license their voice work for a character, but what about when that character ages? What about a totally different character they voice, but that there is some similarity to? What recourse do they have if their voice synthesis files leak and people are using it willy-nilly?

Spotify is acquiring Sonantic, the AI voice platform used to simulate Val Kilmer’s voice in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

It’s an interesting new field to work in, but it’s hardly without pitfalls and ethical conundra. Disney has already broken the seal on many transformative technologies in filmmaking and television, and borne the deserved criticism when what it put out did not meet audiences’ expectations.
But they can take the hits and roll with them — maybe even take a page from George Lucas’s book and try to rewrite history, improving the rendering of Grand Moff Tarkin in a bid to make us forget how waxy he looked originally. As long as the technology is used to advance and complement the creativity of writers, directors and everyone else who makes movies magic, and not to save a buck or escape tricky rights situations, I can get behind it.
AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch
AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones

Kids and teens now spend more time watching TikTok than YouTube, new data shows

Kids and teens are now spending more time watching videos on TikTok than on YouTube.
In fact, that’s been the case since June 2020 — the month when TikTok began to outrank YouTube in terms of the average minutes per day people ages 4 through 18 spent accessing these two competitive video platforms. That month, TikTok overtook YouTube for the first time, as this younger demographic began averaging 82 minutes per day on TikTok versus an average of 75 minutes per day on YouTube.
In the years since, TikTok has continued to dominate with younger users. By the end of 2021, kids and teens were watching an average of 91 minutes of TikTok per day compared with just 56 minutes per day spent watching YouTube, on a global basis.
This new data is based on kids’ and teens’ use of TikTok and YouTube across platforms, which was compiled for TechCrunch by parental control software maker Qustodio using an analysis of 400,000 families who have accounts with its service for parental monitoring. The data represents their real-world usage of apps and websites, not an estimate.
And to be clear, these figures are averages. That means kids aren’t necessarily sitting down to watch an hour and a half of TikTok and an hour of YouTube every day. Instead, the data shows how viewing trends have changed over time, where some days kids will watch more online video than others, and will switch between their favorite apps.
However, the broader picture this data paints is one where the world’s largest video platform may be losing its grip on the next generation of web users — specifically, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Gen Z is typically thought to include people born between the mid- to late-1990s and the 2010s. Meanwhile, Gen Alpha — a generation whose childhood was put on pause by Covid, then driven online — includes those born after the early to mid-2010s.
In a prior annual report, Qustodio had analyzed kids’ app usage and found that TikTok was nearing YouTube in terms of average time spent. However, that report examined the data in a somewhat clunky fashion. It had included early 2020 app usage in a report largely focused on 2019 trends — a decision the firm had made at the time in order to highlight the increased connectivity taking place at the beginning of the pandemic. The report also focused on a handful of top markets, rather than global trends.

Kids now spend nearly as much time watching TikTok as YouTube in US, UK and Spain

The new data, compiled upon TechCrunch’s request, has been cleaned up to provide a clearer picture of the year-over-year shift in video viewing trends among the web’s youngest users.
According to the firm’s findings, YouTube was still ahead in 2019 as kids and teens were spending an average of 48 minutes on the platform on a global basis, compared with 38 minutes on TikTok. But with the shift in usage that took place in June 2020, TikTok came out on top for 2020 as a whole, with an average of 75 minutes per day, compared with 64 minutes for YouTube.
This past year, the averages grew even further apart. In 2021, this younger demographic spent an average of 91 minutes per day on TikTok versus just 56 minutes on YouTube.
Image Credits: Qustodio data
Image Credits: Qustodio data
The firm also broke out metrics for leading countries like the U.S., the U.K. and Spain, which demonstrate an even more incredible shift on a regional basis, compared with the global trends. For example, U.S. kids and teens last year spent an average of 99 minutes per day on TikTok versus 61 minutes on YouTube. In the U.K., TikTok usage was up to a whopping 102 minutes per day, versus just 53 minutes on YouTube. These figures include both website and app usage, we should note.
YouTube, no doubt, is well aware of this shift in consumer behavior as are all other social app makers, including Meta and Snap. That’s why YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat have all now copied TikTok’s short-form vertical video feed with their own products.
In YouTube’s case, that’s YouTube Shorts, a short video platform the company believes will prove to be a discovery engine that will drive users to its long-form product. The company recently touted that YouTube Shorts had topped 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users, and suggested that channels producing videos of different lengths were seeing gains in watch time. It didn’t, however, share any specific figures on that front.
YouTube’s first-party data, of course, takes into account a broader global audience — not just kids and teens. And it includes cross-platform usage on phones, tablets, the web, smart TVs, game consoles, connected devices and more.
But despite Shorts’ growing adoption per YouTube’s data, Qustodio’s research seems to indicate younger people have simply been opting for the short-form content provided by TikTok. At the same time, TikTok has been slowly pushing its user base to consume longer videos. This year, for instance, TikTok expanded the max video length to 10 minutes, up from its earlier expansion to 3 minutes. And while most TikTok videos are not multiple minutes long, the “optimal” video length for a TikTok video has been growing.
In 2020, TikTok told creators that 11 to 17 seconds was the sweet spot to find traction. In November 2021, it amended that to 21 to 34 seconds.
Over time, this could also help to drive up the average watch time on TikTok as well.
Qustodio’s larger annual report on digital trends indicates YouTube isn’t the only app to feel the impact of TikTok’s rise and the unique interests of Gens Z and Alpha. Young people use a different mix of apps than the generations before — like Roblox, for instance, which has been used by 56% of kids, or Snapchat, used by 82%. On average, they are totaling 4 hours of screen time per day, which includes educational apps.
The good news for YouTube, however, is that it’s still ahead of other video streaming services in terms of time spent.
Globally, kids spent 56 minutes per day on YouTube last year, ahead of Disney+ (47 min), Netflix (45 min), Amazon Prime (40 min), Hulu (38 min) and Twitch (20 min)
Kids and teens now spend more time watching TikTok than YouTube, new data shows