December 12, 2025 • 49 mins
Emily Chang meets Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden for an inside look at the entertainment giant's global streaming and TV ambitions
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Emily Chang, and you're listening to the circuit. On
this episode, we're taking you behind the scenes at Disney
headquarters to meet Dana Walden, Disney's co chair of Entertainment.
She's a longtime TV hit maker with some might say
the magic touch, who currently oversees one of the largest
creative portfolios in the world between Hulu, Disney Plus FX,
(00:21):
and ABC. She also happens to be a contender for
the top job at Disney when CEO Bob Eiger steps
down next year. Walden is widely seen as one of
Hollywood savvast executives, with a powerful web of relationships with
some of the most famous stars and showrunners.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
What's your approach to talent, especially when you have to
say no?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
In a lot of cases, a fast no is the
second best thing to a yes, because it enables great
partners to move on and find the thing that is
going to be explosive and can be a big hit.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But even veterans like Walden are facing challenges in the
rapidly shifting business of media. The ongoing streaming wars, consolidation
in Hollywood, the rise of AI, and a very heated
conflict involving President Trump and late night host Jimmy Kimmel,
just to name a few.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Did President Trump call you or Bob or vice versa?
Did you get any pressure from the White House?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
We did not hear from them.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We talked about Disney's controversial call to suspend Kimmel then
reinstate him, a decision made by Walden and Iger, as
well as what makes a good TV show, and so
much more in a sit down at the famed Team
Disney building in Burbank, California. That's where she Iiger and
other Disney lieutenants are overseeing the fate and future of
one of the world's most powerful and beloved media companies.
(01:42):
Let's roll sound please, Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Wow, this is very serious and profession How long have
you been in this office? Has this been your spot
since I twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Are all over? Okay, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I started out in that building because when I first
got here, I oversaw a lot of like the linear channels,
and then I was doing Hulu originals too.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But ABC space there. That is the ABC building okay,
the green one.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
And then I moved into.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
This building and an office across this floor, and then
I moved here a couple of years ago, which I.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Like, Yeah, And who's so Christina's on this floor. Christina
is here.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Hugh Johnston or Sipo is here. Ellen Bergman, who's my partner,
is here. Rossio Kutiras, our general counsel, is here. And
Bob is right there.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Right there through that door. Yeah, he's our area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So we're heading into the holidays. This is a busy
time for you.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
It's so crazy. It's so crazy. We have so many things.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It's such an important time in the business, and then
it's an important time to try to be with your family,
as I'm sure you know, and I am definitely notwithstanding
you know, work pressures. I am the gift picker. I
am the gift buyer. If we have a holiday card,
it's because I'm sending it. I used to sit in
(03:05):
my driveway and my family would be having dinner in
the dining room was right next to the windows when
you drove in the door, and they would see me
just sitting there and I'd just be taking some breast,
trying to make the transition, and my younger daughter would
come out.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
She'd knock on and we see you we know you're here.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, So is it nice to be on the floor
with all the executives? Do you gather and chit chat?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
It is? I'm you know.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I wish I was closer to my teams, you know.
I love spending time with them, and they all come
over here and all go.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
To their offices.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
But having the opportunity to go into any of the
smart executives I work with in the C suite here
and get a point of view about something I'm doing,
it's really great. I pinch myself every day I drive
on this lot and think I can't believe I get
to work here.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I did a show with Bob like ten years ago
right out front.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
It was called Inside Disney. That was ten years and
here we are tennish. Yeah. So just wanted to do
a little bit of background.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You grew up in La I did what drew you
to Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, it's actually funny. I grew up about four miles
from here. I always say this job was like the
pole of the valley, back to this exact spot. I
had a great upbringing. My mom was in musical theater.
She was a performer, and she really taught me to
love a great story, took me to see movies and theater,
(04:30):
and we watched a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Of TV together as a family.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And then I remember when I was twelve, my parents
switched out the TV in the living room and got
a new one, and I somehow convinced my mother to
let me put the old one in my room.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I didn't come out for about five years. I think
she regrets that choice now, but it put me on
this path.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, your brain didn't turn to mush, I mean it worked,
It's true. And your grandfather gave you Disney shares.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yes, my grandparents loved Disneyland. They took us every summer.
They lived in Vancouver and they would come down during
the summer and we would all go as a family.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It was really a memorable time.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And then when I turned I don't know ten or eleven,
my grandfather, who really considered himself a businessman. First he
thought about who runs the best businesses.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
We were always talking about it.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
He was trying to impart upon me, you know what
the virtues are of a strong business. And all of
a sudden they would bring down over Christmas five shares
of Disney.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Stock for Christmas. And I have to say, when I
was ten. I did not think it was the.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Best gift, although every certificate, which it still does today,
had the iconic characters on it so very sweech.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Did you hold on to it? I did.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I held onto a lot just because they had sentimental
value to me, not just that I was looking at
the value of the gift.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You landed a PR job at twentieth Century Fox in
nineteen ninety two. That was, and that's where you had
your famous Jerry McGuire moment.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yes, tell me about that. Much has been made of that.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think maybe it's taken on a life of its own.
But I got to Fox, as you said, ended up
spending twenty six years there, was at a retreat and
made a presentation in front of Peter Chernan, who was
at the time chairman of Fox Entertainment, and I don't
know what happened. You know, he was impressed with a
(06:26):
few of us in that room, and he just pursued
a conversation with me afterwards, just trying to understand what
my passion was. And notwithstanding that I came in on
the PR side, I really had a passion for storytelling
and creativity. And I remember him saying, why don't we
move you over into that area, and it was a
(06:47):
really unique opportunity. I was not such a high level executive,
you know. I took a step back and moved into
an area which I didn't understand very well at the time.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
But I had amazing mentors who taught me.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Along with some of the creators that I was working
with at the time, Chris Carter on The X Files,
you know, Jim Brooks on The Simpsons, they really taught
me how to understand storytelling and production and it was
a wonderful period in my career and it led to
again a twenty six year career at Fox where I
(07:26):
was given so many opportunities. I oversaw different businesses, consumer products,
domestic distribution, the broadcast network at Fox, but my heart
was really always with our television studios and working with
creators liked Jim Brooks on I think many of the
best television shows in the history of the medium, shows
(07:49):
like The X Files, are twenty four, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Glee,
American Horror Story, The Americans, Homeland. I mean, the list
really went on and on, and it was just a wonderful,
wonderful time in my career.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
You took Fox from fourth to first with shows like
Glee and twenty four.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
What are the strategic.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Decisions that you made that you think made the biggest difference.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So, you know, when I got into the Fox network,
the network business at the time was pretty cyclical. You know,
you would ride a wave and have incredible programming that
would hit the zeitgeist to be number one, and then
those shows would get, you know, a little bit long
in the tooth, and another network would come up and
have the hot new show. And I came in at
(08:37):
the unfortunate time as Fox was on its way down
to number four in entertainment, and really we put it
back together and got back to number one, brick by brick.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
It was with shows at the time.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
We had Empire, and then I convinced my best friend
Ryan Murphy to do a show called nine to one
one that was a huge global success, and out of
that came a spinoff, nine to one one Loan Star,
and then we launched The Mass Singer, which was such
a big, noisy, kind of audacious reality show, and just
(09:11):
piece by piece, we put that schedule back together and
at the point that I left, which was twenty eighteen,
it was back in the number one spot.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So Netflix kicks off the streaming boom. It takes Disney
six years to get into streaming, launches Disney Plus in
twenty nineteen buys Fox to try to catch up. That's
when you enter the scene. Did you feel like you
were starting from behind?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I didn't really at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I thought, what an amazing opportunity to join a company
which is the gold standard in storytelling.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
That's been my passion.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
That's where I've spent the majority of my time is
just stories which endure, stories that matter. I think that
was one of the reasons that Bob was so interested
in acquiring those Fox assets, because we had many, many
seasons of the types of shows that built the foundation
(10:05):
of Netflix subscriber base. So I felt like we had
the right tools, combined with of course the iconic Disney IP,
which is a total differentiator. It is available nowhere else,
It is special and it means something for generations of people,
(10:26):
and I thought we had a lot of solid tools
and we weren't really starting from all the way behind.
We had been partners in Hulu, so we had a
streaming service that was incredibly well subscribed in the US,
and Disney Plus launched with I think ten million subscribers
in the first twenty four hours, so we did not
(10:47):
feel by any stretch that we were behind.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So you oversee now one of the largest creative portfolios
in the world, between Hulu and Disney Plus and FX
and ABC. How do you see all these pieces fitting
together inside the Disney universe And what do you see
as the balance between streaming and legacy sitcoms and linear
and broadcast.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Well, that's a very broad question.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I would say in terms of streaming, I have a
partner who oversees Disney Plus and Hulu with me, Alan Bergman.
He oversees the Disney feature business and Star Wars, Marvel
and Pixar, and well Disney Animation, So he oversees the
branded pieces. I oversee the branded for kids, and then
(11:34):
I oversee the general entertainment, which includes shows like The
Simpsons and Family Guy. And I would say our strategy
is we want to create someone's very favorite show, and
we have such a vast array of stories and they
are so well executed. And while there's a very big
(11:57):
difference between our branded shows the iconic content Mickey Minnie,
you know, the princesses, and what we're doing on the
general entertainment side with Showgun or The Bear or the Kardashians.
The consistent thread though, is incredible high quality. We are
(12:17):
never in the business of doing the most stories. We
want to do the best stories and be a place
where we're a trusted environment for parents. Our shows have appealed,
our stories have appealed to kids for one hundred years,
and then we also want to make it easy for
subscribers to find a great story like Grey's Anatomy, right,
(12:41):
which leads to the question of our linear channels, and
when we think about our distribution ecosystem, we think about
it as an integrated television business or an integrated entertainment business.
The types of shows that we get from broadcast, our
shows that have not been built on streaming, they are
(13:03):
also unique. You think about, you know, Gray's Anatomy or
High Potential, those long running multiple episodes.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
You can do a deep.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Dive into a long running series where you love the characters.
They become part of your group. Every day you think
about those characters because there's so much content to satisfy you.
And that's a type of programming that uniquely comes from
our broadcast network ABC or Dancing with the Stars. You know,
(13:34):
live is really a specialty of linear and of broadcast television,
and Dancing with the Stars is up something incredible like
sixty percent this season. I saw that, and I think
that's a combination of we're simulcasting it across our streaming
services and ABC younger subscribers are watching it on Disney
(13:59):
plot Us, the original fans are watching it on ABC,
and together we're serving fans wherever they want to watch
our shows.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, I've spoken to a few people now who rave
about the art of Dana Walden. I've read about you
getting up early to watch cuts on a treadmill. What's
your approach to talent, especially when you have to say now.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Well, say nos very hard.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
You know, these are people who I not only respect,
but I care about, and there is no one strategy.
I think strong partnerships and relationships that you invest in
over time, where your partners believe that you are in
it with them, enable you to have conversations in an
(14:46):
authentic and trusting way where for example, I was actually
just talking to Kelly Rippa about this.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
In a lot of.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Cases, a fast no is the second best thing to
a yes, because it enables great partners to move on
and find the thing that is going to be explosive
and can be a big hit. And while you know
these decisions are a bit subjective, the decisions that our
teams are making are based on decades and decades of experience,
(15:21):
and the more transparent we can be with partners, I think,
the more resilient the partnerships are.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
The competition is fierce between Netflix and Apple and Amazon
and YouTube. Netflix is arguably the one to chase. How
are you different from Netflix and where do you see
similarities in the.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Playbook, Well, it's very clear Netflix has done an extraordinary
job and they really have developed into a utility, right
They in many situations, you know, that is the place
you go when you don't know what you want to watch,
but you're going to watch TV. They did that very successfully.
The differences, I think with Disney there's an emotional connection.
(16:07):
There's a I have to see that show.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I want to see that film.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I've been waiting to see moanaitu and it just hit
Disney Plus. Or I've heard so much about Showgun and
I have to check it out. While we are not
the same type of utility, I think there is an
emotional connection that Disney has with fans, and I would
say that's a huge asset for us as we continue
(16:37):
to build out our streaming services.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Would you say there's a difference in terms of quality
versus quantity as well?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Oh, no question, no question.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
We've never been in the quantity you know, we're not
trying to create a fire hose of content. We're trying
to curate and we think that now and into the future,
there will be a great benefit to subscribers in feeling
like a team is curating the best shows and they
(17:08):
don't have to go searching for whatever that might be.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
That's a Netflix shares are up eighty times since the
start of streaming. Disney shares have about doubled. Netflix's market
cap is about twice the size of Disney.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Now, what's your message to investors, Well.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I think again there can be both services can coexist,
and I think we keep making quarterly gains both in
terms of revenue andi in terms of subscribers and engagements.
We're delivering on all the important metrics and that's happening
being true to ourselves, being authentic, and also offering the
(17:48):
best storytelling. I think you know in the industry, you know,
regardless of who I talk to, whether it's someone at
a big tech company or someone at a traditional media company, inevitably, Well,
if you're in tech, you want to talk about Star Wars,
but you want to talk about one of our beloved
pieces of IP. It is again, the pull of a
(18:12):
Disney story is tremendous, and I think we have an
ability to optimize content around our company in a way
that none other does. When you think about the wonderful
stories that we tell that are now distributed through Disney
Plus and then how they come to life in our parks,
(18:33):
on our cruise ships, at retail and consumer products. That
is completely unique to Disney, and we see our competitors
try to replicate that. Let's call it a flywheel, and
it's virtually impossible to start from scratch, and it's also
really difficult to do it without that IP.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
The streaming boom has slowed.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It seems like there's less getting made a studios keep
going back to established showrun. How would you describe this
moment in time in Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Well, I think we've been in transition for over a decade.
I think most of us who grew up in the
old Hollywood system have become very resilient and very accustomed
to change, and we are pivoting. We've recently hired a
new technology team of incredible engineers and product design executives
(19:26):
who have come from best in class technology companies, from
YouTube and Google and Meta, and the progress we're making
on that front is very encouraging. And you have to
keep moving forward, and you have to look at the
strength that you bring to this particular moment in our
(19:46):
business and really lay into the unique assets of each company,
and for us, that means designing product features that lean
uniquely into the ip of the world Disney Company.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Now, some of the critics would say that Disney Entertainment
is in a tough spot. Your share of streaming is plateauing,
profits have underperformed estimates. How do you see it and
what are you doing to shift that?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I think it depends on what moment in time we
are growing all of those important metrics. I'm not sure,
and I can't speak to whether expectations keep being set beyond.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Where we're delivering.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
But the growth is there, and that's what we're focused on,
which is growing making very interesting partnerships around the world
with local broadcasters, which is Disney comes as a friend
to the creative community. We want to keep the ecosystem
of creators of distribution in each of the markets where
we operate strong, and we think we can be an
(20:51):
asset to them, a partner, and also that we can coexist,
and that is not the strategy of all streaming service.
So we've been met with incredible optimism.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
In throughout Ania. I'm so sorry place. No, no, no, no, I'm
say I'm like, this is the residual cold.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
M I feel like, even if I don't have a cold,
especially when I need to be honest, I know, just
like sits in there and I know, hello, I'm in
your throat.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yes, yeah, So again in each of the markets, each
of our priority markets, we've had local originals switch are
hits now. That helps to inform our strategy going forward,
which also help us to expand our reach and to
offer a greater amount of content at a comparable price.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
There's also this perception that with everything that is Disney
quote unquote, now, I thought the stuff you've bought, the
stuff you've made, that the Disney brand itself has been diluted.
How do you respond to that? What is Disney's DNA.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes, well, I would have to dispute that. I think
that that's not really fair. I think when you think
about the global box office over the past couple of
years with Inside Out, to and Mawana, to Utopia, to
About to be launched, the recent past with Encanto and Cocoa,
and the diversity of content, I think that this company is.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Judged very harshly because.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
People have very high expectations because they love it and
that connection that love, whether it's our programming for kids
where we know how important that programming is. You and
I were discussing it earlier. When kids connect to our stories,
they develop a life long connection and affinity for our
(22:45):
brand and our characters, which is unlike any other company.
We have the top three kids shows in streaming in
the US right now, and each of them sort of
illustrates what our strategy is, which is, you have the
original canon of characters, Mickey who's about to be one
hundred years old and has been refreshed a number of
(23:09):
times throughout that period and continues to stay beloved generation
to generations, so Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus.
Then we're also developing shows based on Marvel characters like
Spidey and his Amazing friends, the Avengers, iron Man, Young
Jedi from Star Wars. Again, that is helping our youngest
(23:33):
fans develop a connection to those characters.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
In a delightful way.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
With shows that are optimistic aspirational, they're so joyful and
parents trust us with their kids, which is again a
very unique phenomenon. And then along with our iconic IP,
we're always looking for original series for kids that share
those attributes, and there's no better example than Bluie. It
(24:01):
is a global phenomenon, as it should be. It's a
brilliant show. But it again it feels like Disney IP.
Bluie and her family will be walk around characters in
our domestic parks on our cruise ships. In twenty twenty seven,
will be releasing a blue film and it is excellent.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I have seen a sneak peek. So good.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
But what I would say is I just dispute the
notion because I see the facts. I mean, four billion
at the global box office right now, significantly ahead of
any other theatrical company and the most streamed shows in
the US, both in terms of our general entertainment. Gray's Anatomy,
(24:45):
Family Guy, Bob's, Burger's, The Simpsons, as well as our
kids programming. So I don't think that's a fair observation.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Shogun has turned out to be a huge success, and
you're trying to lean into more global and localized content.
Bob Iger said, you're taking a discipline approach to this.
What does that mean? What markets are on the table,
what's off the table?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Well, Disney Plus is currently in over one hundred and
fifty countries. We are not producing local originals in all
of them. We are picking key countries in each of
the regions and developing original content there and it's been
a really exciting part of my job. I have to say,
working in this industry for a long time, there was
(25:33):
a distribution model where we would take our gems right
our shows that were huge hits in the US, and
then we would hand them over to third party distributors
and just kind of hope for the best, and we
would get anecdotal information about whether they worked or didn't work,
But we were never boots on the ground really having
(25:53):
an understanding of what that consumer wants. And this original
strategy enables us to do that enables us to understand
the value of the Disney IP combined with hit general
entertainment shows that feel global like Showgun that you just
mentioned or Grey's Anatomy, and then take markets like UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France.
(26:22):
You know throughout Asia we have Japan and Korea and then.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Brazil and Mexico.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
A focus in Latin America where we're creating shows that
are not just for those countries. They travel, you know,
we know how those shows travel regionally when you get
them right.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Squid Game and The Crown are major hits. Like Netflix
does seem to be way ahead in this area.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Can you catch up? Well, I think you can.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I think you just named two shows, so I would
put up Showgun and Grey's Anatomy. Those are global hits.
They're coming from the US, but they work around the world.
We had a massive hit in Korea with a show
called Moving that signed up millions of subscribers and was
(27:10):
the envy of all of our competitors in that region.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So absolutely, the value of.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
A hit continues to be very meaningful. And frankly, each
of the streamers has found its way to a couple
that can work globally. I don't think that's typically the dynamic.
I think the whole reason behind trying to super serve,
trying to give these services local flare is about content
(27:39):
that feels very targeted to a certain audience, but when
you get it right, the fact that that can be
a global sensation that's happened.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
For all of us.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
There's a lot of curiosity about your post integration plans
for Hulu. You do have three separate apps between Hulu
and Disney.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Plus and ESPN.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
How problematic is it to have three different apps and
is a Disney super app coming?
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Well, I don't think it's problematic.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I think it's actually hugely beneficial because even in the
way we bundle our services today, we really think the
best experience is to watch it all together on Disney Plus,
which is even currently you can be a subscriber to
the Trio Bundle or the Triple Bundle as Bob calls it,
and you can watch the best of ESPN games together
(28:28):
with the Hulu General Entertainment and Deep Library shows, along
with the iconic Disney IP all together on Disney Plus.
Ultimately being able to continue to advance that UI and
making sure that Disney Plus is a place where if
you're a Hulu dominant subscriber, you love opening the Disney
(28:52):
Plus app and watching that type of show there. If
you're coming in predominantly for ESPN, you open the app
and the environment feels like it is personalized and specific
to you.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And that is the.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Direction we're moving because we think ultimately it's easier, it
reduces the friction to be able.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
To access it all in one place.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
So does that mean a super app is coming?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean, I know Bob said.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You're working on some big significant changes.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
We're on the path to delivering that experience all in
one place. And that is not said to send a
message to any Hulu subscribers that they're not going to
have the exact type of experience they love. At the
point we get there, that will be because each cohort
(29:38):
has the experience that they love together in one app.
But for the time being a lot of people are
watching it all together on Disney Plus.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
You got the Kardashians to come to Hulu after a
year is long, very successful run at NBC. So between
the Kardashians and Mormon wives are unscripted originals seem to
be working. What's the next frontier in Reac.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
I think that we're finding the next frontier. I mean
every hit, every new hit, is indicative of what's to come,
and they always borrow something from a tried and true formula.
But they have a slight twist with the Kardashians. Leaving
keeping up with the Kardashians and just becoming the Kardashians
(30:22):
was a huge move for them. The show is far
more cinematic. The starting place is with women who are
probably all billionaires, if not on their way to being that,
they're successful entrepreneurs. It's a new generation of and aspirational
in terms of how fans want to engage with that family.
(30:44):
I would say that's the evolution of what the strategy
was with that show with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
That's a subculture that people are fascinated with, and yet
there are so many of the elements of just an
old fashion hit reality show that are there. But it
feels like the next generation for us. It is utilizing
(31:09):
all of those assets to create sort of a virtuous
circle of engagement.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
If you look at our.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Mormon Wives and then they are contestants on Dancing with
the Stars, and then the winner of Dancing with the
Stars ends up in their own show with elements of
dancing in it, and then the Kardashians have connected tissue
with some of these shows. It is trying to make
sure that unlike what used to happen previously, which was
(31:40):
you had to wait for a new season of your
favorite show, our shows all have elements of each of
those shows which are beloved.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We got to talk to Kim and Ryan. That's the
All's Fair premiere. All's Fair hasn't gotten great reviews. This
was a big sway. How do you think about the.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Hits and miss Well, I would not call All's Fair
miss It is actually performing incredibly well with the audience,
and look, I would say critical acclaim is great and
we're very happy when that is part of our campaign
to launch a show.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
But ultimately we're creating shows for our audience and for
our subscribers, and not really for critics.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So I actually.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Think the critics being extreme in their reaction activated in
particular Kims followers and created an entire new wave of
publicity and attention for the show that really benefited the show.
The show's fun, and it's original, and it's dishy, and
(32:48):
it's addictive. It's irrelevant that we had to disconnect with
some of the critics.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
When it comes to streaming, the biggest audience doesn't even
belong to a Hollywood entertainment company.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's YouTube.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Some analysts protect that YouTube is on its way to
surpassing Disney as the largest media company in the world.
How big a threat is YouTube and how are you
changing your strategy to compete?
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Again, as I said earlier, clearly a lot has changed
over the past decade. You know, we're dealing with different dynamics,
and that's happening at a faster pace as we compete
with big technology. I do have to laugh when I
think about many of the meetings that I have with
people in those tech companies, where ultimately we spend some
(33:38):
portion of that meeting talking about as I said before,
Star Wars, but all of our iconic IP or Showgun
or the thing that keeps us at the table with
big technology is no company will ever be able to
generate a library of stories like this company has over
(34:03):
the past hundred years. And that IP is precious and
it's unique to us, and it is helping to create
a path for the future in terms of how we
compete and what the future might look like.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
You just ended a pretty resolved, I should say, you
just resolved a pretty heated carriage fee dispute with YouTube TV.
It raises the question who needs who more? Does Disney
need YouTube or does YouTube need Disney.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Well, I think the deal that we ended up with
is illustrative of the fact that we kind of need
each other.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And I would say that.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Deal ended in a win win win situation where YouTube
TV one, while Disney Company one and consumers one. Because
these deals are all they are all different now, the
carriage agreements. It's not like the old days where there
was a one size fits all every company, whether it's satellite, cable, internet,
(35:03):
big tech, they all have different needs. They all have
a different strategy for how they want to appeal to
their consumers.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
And for us, trying.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
To be flexible and understand what the priorities are have
enabled us to craft deals that work very well for us.
They're different from the ones that we've made in the past.
But whether it's packaging, genre packaging, or a deal that
shifts away value from what were channels that were important
(35:36):
in our ecosystem to our future facing business which looks
more like a direct to consumer business. That value exchange
has enabled us to resolve these deals.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
They're heeded.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I think they have been across the board in the industry,
but the result is pretty innovative deal making that where
both companies came out with what they needed.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Okay, hard pave, let's talk about Kimmel.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Wow, that's a really hard It is a hard pitot.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Okay, what happened and what were the conversations between you
and Bob and Jimmy.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Well, that was a very hard period.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Obviously, it was something I hope that I don't have
to revisit in my career, and Jimmy has spoken about
it extensively, so I don't want to cover any of
the ground that he's already covered. I think maybe the
thing that I could tell you that I don't think
has been meaningfully covered is what you just asked. What
(36:35):
we were thinking in that moment that we decided to
hit pause on his show, And it had nothing to
do with any external factors.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
We were thinking about only one thing as we made
that decision very close to his show going back up
on that Wednesday, and that was the situation was extremely
hated we wanted to take the temperature down. We didn't
think that was going to be possible that night, so
we hit pause to have conversations with Jimmy. Jimmy is
(37:11):
a great partner. He's been a partner to this company
for over two decades.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
He's a good friend of mine.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Those conversations were thoughtful, they were meaningful, and ultimately what
they resulted in was Jimmy coming back on the air
really four days later in terms of.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Shows missed with a pitch perfect.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Monologue where he met the moment in the way that
we hoped he could in a way that took the
temperature down and was reflective of a lot of thoughtful conversation,
thinking ultimately about several groups. We wanted to resolve the
(37:57):
situation in a certain way, to pre techt our employees,
to think about our audience, to think about Jimmy and
his staff, and ultimately, I feel like everyone was protected
in the best way possible through the process that we
engaged in, which only happened because of the strength of
(38:18):
the relationships that exist between us and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Did President Trump call you or Bob or vice versa.
Did you get any pressure from the White House we
did not hear from them, So this was a trial
by fire moment. When you look back, how do you
think you handled it? And is there anything that you
would have done differently?
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
I'm enormously proud of how we handled it. Again, it
was a very unique situation. It was something I'd never
dealt with before in a long career of dealing with
many different types of crisis.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
But working through.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
It at the pace we did, getting the result ultimately
that we did for all of us. Yes, I don't
think there's anything I would have done differently at this point,
because anything I would have changed would have risked the
ultimate outcome, which I thought was very good.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
There are reports that cancelations of Disney Plus and who
spiked after the incident. I'm not sure if you can
confirm that. But how do you balance free speech and
creative freedom in a polarized climate.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Well, I think those reports were highly exaggerated, and I
can tell you that a number of those cancelations were
saved once Jimmy was back, And the fact that Jimmy
was prepared to be so honest, so candid about the process,
I think was very cathartic for his fans as well, again,
(39:48):
we ended up back. You saw the number of subscribers
that we reported during our earnings, we had a very
strong quarter. I think that this issue is firmly in our.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Past, from President Trump to Jeff Bezos to Barry Weis
who's now at CBS. The power centers and media are multiplying,
audiences are splintering, trust is eroding. You sit at this
really interesting intersection of journalism and politics and corporate power.
(40:19):
What does it mean to oversee ABC at this particular
moment in time.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Well, I would say that we have stayed true to
what our strategy has been consistently at ABC News. I
have enormous respect for the journalists who work at ABC News.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
They make me proud every day.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
The goal and ultimately what we're trying to deliver on
is straight forward news.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
It's not biased news, it's not editorialized. It is straightforward
news from many of the people who I think are
best in class in their business. So what we think
about every day is that is do we have.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
The right contributors?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
And the answer is yes, Is it being run in
a way that we can all stand behind proudly?
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Deborah O'Connell and Alman Kerma Medovich. They just every day
are thinking about our consumer, our viewer.
Speaker 4 (41:27):
They're thinking about it, Deborah.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Overseas, our owned television stations as well, and our local
news teams, and we're thinking about what is our responsibility
trying to not be distracted by a lot of news.
And I think it's the reason why Good Morning America
is the number one morning show and why World News
(41:49):
Tonight is many many times when we're not in prime
sports season, the number one show on broadcast is World
News Tonight. I think it's because we're saying true to
those values.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
I believe Bob sits right behind that door. How would
you describe your relationship with Bob Eiger? What have you
learned from him and how has that impacted your work
in your life.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Yeah, it's been an extraordinary relationship that I value highly.
We are not only colleagues. We have a very good
friendship and he is a terrific mentor.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
I feel lucky.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I want to pinch myself every day that I have
the opportunity to learn from him, learn about the strategy
of how he built this company to where it is,
and then to understand what it was like to come
back and take over in very difficult times and write
the ship. So it is the opportunity of a lifetime
(42:44):
and it was one of the reasons I came to
Disney was to learn from Bob.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
The biggest story in Hollywood now is who's going to
be the next CEO of Disney. And there are pundits
and analysts all over TV and podcasts talking about who's
in the lead, and you're one of the leading candidates,
so they're often talking about you. They're often pitting you
against your colleagues. What's it been like for you on
the inside?
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Well, being pit against my colleagues, I don't appreciate because
we have incredible relationships. We are a very tight organization.
We collaborate often. Again, you think about the ip that
we work on that is brought to life across our
parks and experiences, business, the sports that Jimmy oversees, that
(43:33):
ultimately is part of what's on ABC and how we
bring our streaming services to life. You know, again, what
Josh Allen and Jimmy contribute enormous And we not only
have great business relationships, we have a lot of fun
working together. So anything that is a distraction from that
(43:54):
is unfortunate because it's not the truth. But I have
enormous faith in where this company's going. I'm very confident.
Part of why I'm confident is there's a world class
team at this company who is navigating the path into
the future, and this company is strong and we are
going to succeed.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Do you try to tune out the noise?
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Absolutely, it's not helpful. The noise is I understand it.
It's a great soap opera for whomever it is that's
trying to create soap operatic dynamics, which really don't exist.
You're on this floor, you can see it would be
really hard to create the dynamics that some might suggest.
(44:37):
On this floor, it's just a peaceful environment where people
are collaborating.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Well, you are the expert. I'm making good shows. So,
since you mentioned the soap operas, if this was a
scripted series, would it be a drama, comedy, thriller?
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Who should play you? Who should play me?
Speaker 3 (44:57):
These are things I haven't thought about. And I again,
when I think about how to create a schedule where
I can fit all of the things I need to
accomplish in all day, this is not one of the
things I put on my calendar. You know, again, I'm
incredibly confident about where we're going.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I want to talk a little bit about M and
A because there's some potentially big shifts in the industry
on the horizon. Companies being bought, companies getting broken up.
Do you see a role for Disney And if not,
are you worried that a stronger competitor will come out
of this.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
I don't worry about a stronger competitor coming out of it,
because we already went through an incredible transformation in twenty
nineteen as Disney integrated the entertainment.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Assets of Fox.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
We already went through a big em andy event to
expand our library, to increase the amount of IP that
we ultimately could take over the top directly to the consumer.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
So I'm not worried right now. I also think.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
Whichever whoever ends up in this situation acquiring WBD or
any asset that's available, these are situations that require a
lot of time, time for regulatory approval, time for integration,
time to figure out how to combine apps. A lot
of the things that we've already been through.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Well, speaking of being through things, you have been at
the center of so many reinventions. Obviously TV streaming, Now
there's AI, the reinvention of this company. What do you
think it's going to take to lead one hundred year
old company into the next century.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Well, I think it's a lot of the things we're
doing right now. We're going direct to the consumer, as
we have in our experiences business for a very long time,
knowing them, understanding the consumer, being able to personalize experienceperiences,
building out our technology product, creating features again that are
(47:06):
unique to this ip that will delight people the same
way they are delighted when they go to our parks,
And if you go to our parks wherever they exist
in the world, you will see the same phenomenon, which
is a family or just adults about to have one
(47:27):
of their very best days. And being able to capture
that experience in our product is a top priority and
that is how we're moving into the future.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Is the golden age of entertainment behind us or is
the best so yet to come?
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Oh? I don't think it's behind us at all.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I think even in a world of AI more premium,
are the best stories and the best life experiences, and
those are two of the sweet spots of the Walt
Disney Company. So again, I think those stories are going
to continue to matter for a very long time. I
think we're going to continue doing that, and it's going
(48:08):
to mean something to future generations and especially to parents
who want to pass down that experience to their own kids.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
All Right, so the best is yet to come, I
think so absolutely.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Circuit.
You can check out the full episode to see how
Dana Walden and a cast of Disney stars including Kim Kardashian,
Chris Jenner, and Ellen Pompeo, are reinventing what it means
to watch TV.
Speaker 4 (48:33):
I'm Emily Chang.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
You can follow me on x and Instagram at Emily
Chang TV. You can watch new episodes of the Circuit
on Bloomberg Television on YouTube or on demand by downloading
the Bloomberg app to your smart TV. And check out
other Bloomberg podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you
listen to your shows, and please let us know what
you think leave a review.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
We love reviews.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
They really help generate momentum for the show. I'm your
host and executive producer. Our senior producer is Lauren Ellis,
Our editor is Grammercy Post
I'm Emily Chang, and you're listening to the circuit. On
this episode, we're taking you behind the scenes at Disney
headquarters to meet Dana Walden, Disney's co chair of Entertainment.
She's a longtime TV hit maker with some might say
the magic touch, who currently oversees one of the largest
creative portfolios in the world between Hulu, Disney Plus FX,
(00:21):
and ABC. She also happens to be a contender for
the top job at Disney when CEO Bob Eiger steps
down next year. Walden is widely seen as one of
Hollywood savvast executives, with a powerful web of relationships with
some of the most famous stars and showrunners.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
What's your approach to talent, especially when you have to
say no?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
In a lot of cases, a fast no is the
second best thing to a yes, because it enables great
partners to move on and find the thing that is
going to be explosive and can be a big hit.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But even veterans like Walden are facing challenges in the
rapidly shifting business of media. The ongoing streaming wars, consolidation
in Hollywood, the rise of AI, and a very heated
conflict involving President Trump and late night host Jimmy Kimmel,
just to name a few.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Did President Trump call you or Bob or vice versa?
Did you get any pressure from the White House?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
We did not hear from them.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We talked about Disney's controversial call to suspend Kimmel then
reinstate him, a decision made by Walden and Iger, as
well as what makes a good TV show, and so
much more in a sit down at the famed Team
Disney building in Burbank, California. That's where she Iiger and
other Disney lieutenants are overseeing the fate and future of
one of the world's most powerful and beloved media companies.
(01:42):
Let's roll sound please, Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Wow, this is very serious and profession How long have
you been in this office? Has this been your spot
since I twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Are all over? Okay, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I started out in that building because when I first
got here, I oversaw a lot of like the linear channels,
and then I was doing Hulu originals too.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But ABC space there. That is the ABC building okay,
the green one.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
And then I moved into.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
This building and an office across this floor, and then
I moved here a couple of years ago, which I.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Like, Yeah, And who's so Christina's on this floor. Christina
is here.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Hugh Johnston or Sipo is here. Ellen Bergman, who's my partner,
is here. Rossio Kutiras, our general counsel, is here. And
Bob is right there.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Right there through that door. Yeah, he's our area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So we're heading into the holidays. This is a busy
time for you.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
It's so crazy. It's so crazy. We have so many things.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It's such an important time in the business, and then
it's an important time to try to be with your family,
as I'm sure you know, and I am definitely notwithstanding
you know, work pressures. I am the gift picker. I
am the gift buyer. If we have a holiday card,
it's because I'm sending it. I used to sit in
(03:05):
my driveway and my family would be having dinner in
the dining room was right next to the windows when
you drove in the door, and they would see me
just sitting there and I'd just be taking some breast,
trying to make the transition, and my younger daughter would
come out.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
She'd knock on and we see you we know you're here.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, So is it nice to be on the floor
with all the executives? Do you gather and chit chat?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
It is? I'm you know.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I wish I was closer to my teams, you know.
I love spending time with them, and they all come
over here and all go.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
To their offices.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
But having the opportunity to go into any of the
smart executives I work with in the C suite here
and get a point of view about something I'm doing,
it's really great. I pinch myself every day I drive
on this lot and think I can't believe I get
to work here.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I did a show with Bob like ten years ago
right out front.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
It was called Inside Disney. That was ten years and
here we are tennish. Yeah. So just wanted to do
a little bit of background.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You grew up in La I did what drew you
to Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, it's actually funny. I grew up about four miles
from here. I always say this job was like the
pole of the valley, back to this exact spot. I
had a great upbringing. My mom was in musical theater.
She was a performer, and she really taught me to
love a great story, took me to see movies and theater,
(04:30):
and we watched a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Of TV together as a family.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And then I remember when I was twelve, my parents
switched out the TV in the living room and got
a new one, and I somehow convinced my mother to
let me put the old one in my room.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I didn't come out for about five years. I think
she regrets that choice now, but it put me on
this path.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, your brain didn't turn to mush, I mean it worked,
It's true. And your grandfather gave you Disney shares.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yes, my grandparents loved Disneyland. They took us every summer.
They lived in Vancouver and they would come down during
the summer and we would all go as a family.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
It was really a memorable time.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And then when I turned I don't know ten or eleven,
my grandfather, who really considered himself a businessman. First he
thought about who runs the best businesses.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
We were always talking about it.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
He was trying to impart upon me, you know what
the virtues are of a strong business. And all of
a sudden they would bring down over Christmas five shares
of Disney.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Stock for Christmas. And I have to say, when I
was ten. I did not think it was the.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Best gift, although every certificate, which it still does today,
had the iconic characters on it so very sweech.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Did you hold on to it? I did.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I held onto a lot just because they had sentimental
value to me, not just that I was looking at
the value of the gift.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You landed a PR job at twentieth Century Fox in
nineteen ninety two. That was, and that's where you had
your famous Jerry McGuire moment.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yes, tell me about that. Much has been made of that.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think maybe it's taken on a life of its own.
But I got to Fox, as you said, ended up
spending twenty six years there, was at a retreat and
made a presentation in front of Peter Chernan, who was
at the time chairman of Fox Entertainment, and I don't
know what happened. You know, he was impressed with a
(06:26):
few of us in that room, and he just pursued
a conversation with me afterwards, just trying to understand what
my passion was. And notwithstanding that I came in on
the PR side, I really had a passion for storytelling
and creativity. And I remember him saying, why don't we
move you over into that area, and it was a
(06:47):
really unique opportunity. I was not such a high level executive,
you know. I took a step back and moved into
an area which I didn't understand very well at the time.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
But I had amazing mentors who taught me.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Along with some of the creators that I was working
with at the time, Chris Carter on The X Files,
you know, Jim Brooks on The Simpsons, they really taught
me how to understand storytelling and production and it was
a wonderful period in my career and it led to
again a twenty six year career at Fox where I
(07:26):
was given so many opportunities. I oversaw different businesses, consumer products,
domestic distribution, the broadcast network at Fox, but my heart
was really always with our television studios and working with
creators liked Jim Brooks on I think many of the
best television shows in the history of the medium, shows
(07:49):
like The X Files, are twenty four, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Glee,
American Horror Story, The Americans, Homeland. I mean, the list
really went on and on, and it was just a wonderful,
wonderful time in my career.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
You took Fox from fourth to first with shows like
Glee and twenty four.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
What are the strategic.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Decisions that you made that you think made the biggest difference.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So, you know, when I got into the Fox network,
the network business at the time was pretty cyclical. You know,
you would ride a wave and have incredible programming that
would hit the zeitgeist to be number one, and then
those shows would get, you know, a little bit long
in the tooth, and another network would come up and
have the hot new show. And I came in at
(08:37):
the unfortunate time as Fox was on its way down
to number four in entertainment, and really we put it
back together and got back to number one, brick by brick.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
It was with shows at the time.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
We had Empire, and then I convinced my best friend
Ryan Murphy to do a show called nine to one
one that was a huge global success, and out of
that came a spinoff, nine to one one Loan Star,
and then we launched The Mass Singer, which was such
a big, noisy, kind of audacious reality show, and just
(09:11):
piece by piece, we put that schedule back together and
at the point that I left, which was twenty eighteen,
it was back in the number one spot.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So Netflix kicks off the streaming boom. It takes Disney
six years to get into streaming, launches Disney Plus in
twenty nineteen buys Fox to try to catch up. That's
when you enter the scene. Did you feel like you
were starting from behind?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I didn't really at the time.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I thought, what an amazing opportunity to join a company
which is the gold standard in storytelling.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
That's been my passion.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
That's where I've spent the majority of my time is
just stories which endure, stories that matter. I think that
was one of the reasons that Bob was so interested
in acquiring those Fox assets, because we had many, many
seasons of the types of shows that built the foundation
(10:05):
of Netflix subscriber base. So I felt like we had
the right tools, combined with of course the iconic Disney IP,
which is a total differentiator. It is available nowhere else,
It is special and it means something for generations of people,
(10:26):
and I thought we had a lot of solid tools
and we weren't really starting from all the way behind.
We had been partners in Hulu, so we had a
streaming service that was incredibly well subscribed in the US,
and Disney Plus launched with I think ten million subscribers
in the first twenty four hours, so we did not
(10:47):
feel by any stretch that we were behind.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So you oversee now one of the largest creative portfolios
in the world, between Hulu and Disney Plus and FX
and ABC. How do you see all these pieces fitting
together inside the Disney universe And what do you see
as the balance between streaming and legacy sitcoms and linear
and broadcast.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Well, that's a very broad question.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I would say in terms of streaming, I have a
partner who oversees Disney Plus and Hulu with me, Alan Bergman.
He oversees the Disney feature business and Star Wars, Marvel
and Pixar, and well Disney Animation, So he oversees the
branded pieces. I oversee the branded for kids, and then
(11:34):
I oversee the general entertainment, which includes shows like The
Simpsons and Family Guy. And I would say our strategy
is we want to create someone's very favorite show, and
we have such a vast array of stories and they
are so well executed. And while there's a very big
(11:57):
difference between our branded shows the iconic content Mickey Minnie,
you know, the princesses, and what we're doing on the
general entertainment side with Showgun or The Bear or the Kardashians.
The consistent thread though, is incredible high quality. We are
(12:17):
never in the business of doing the most stories. We
want to do the best stories and be a place
where we're a trusted environment for parents. Our shows have appealed,
our stories have appealed to kids for one hundred years,
and then we also want to make it easy for
subscribers to find a great story like Grey's Anatomy, right,
(12:41):
which leads to the question of our linear channels, and
when we think about our distribution ecosystem, we think about
it as an integrated television business or an integrated entertainment business.
The types of shows that we get from broadcast, our
shows that have not been built on streaming, they are
(13:03):
also unique. You think about, you know, Gray's Anatomy or
High Potential, those long running multiple episodes.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
You can do a deep.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Dive into a long running series where you love the characters.
They become part of your group. Every day you think
about those characters because there's so much content to satisfy you.
And that's a type of programming that uniquely comes from
our broadcast network ABC or Dancing with the Stars. You know,
(13:34):
live is really a specialty of linear and of broadcast television,
and Dancing with the Stars is up something incredible like
sixty percent this season. I saw that, and I think
that's a combination of we're simulcasting it across our streaming
services and ABC younger subscribers are watching it on Disney
(13:59):
plot Us, the original fans are watching it on ABC,
and together we're serving fans wherever they want to watch
our shows.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, I've spoken to a few people now who rave
about the art of Dana Walden. I've read about you
getting up early to watch cuts on a treadmill. What's
your approach to talent, especially when you have to say now.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Well, say nos very hard.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
You know, these are people who I not only respect,
but I care about, and there is no one strategy.
I think strong partnerships and relationships that you invest in
over time, where your partners believe that you are in
it with them, enable you to have conversations in an
(14:46):
authentic and trusting way where for example, I was actually
just talking to Kelly Rippa about this.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
In a lot of.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Cases, a fast no is the second best thing to
a yes, because it enables great partners to move on
and find the thing that is going to be explosive
and can be a big hit. And while you know
these decisions are a bit subjective, the decisions that our
teams are making are based on decades and decades of experience,
(15:21):
and the more transparent we can be with partners, I think,
the more resilient the partnerships are.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
The competition is fierce between Netflix and Apple and Amazon
and YouTube. Netflix is arguably the one to chase. How
are you different from Netflix and where do you see
similarities in the.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Playbook, Well, it's very clear Netflix has done an extraordinary
job and they really have developed into a utility, right
They in many situations, you know, that is the place
you go when you don't know what you want to watch,
but you're going to watch TV. They did that very successfully.
The differences, I think with Disney there's an emotional connection.
(16:07):
There's a I have to see that show.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I want to see that film.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I've been waiting to see moanaitu and it just hit
Disney Plus. Or I've heard so much about Showgun and
I have to check it out. While we are not
the same type of utility, I think there is an
emotional connection that Disney has with fans, and I would
say that's a huge asset for us as we continue
(16:37):
to build out our streaming services.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Would you say there's a difference in terms of quality
versus quantity as well?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Oh, no question, no question.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
We've never been in the quantity you know, we're not
trying to create a fire hose of content. We're trying
to curate and we think that now and into the future,
there will be a great benefit to subscribers in feeling
like a team is curating the best shows and they
(17:08):
don't have to go searching for whatever that might be.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
That's a Netflix shares are up eighty times since the
start of streaming. Disney shares have about doubled. Netflix's market
cap is about twice the size of Disney.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Now, what's your message to investors, Well.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I think again there can be both services can coexist,
and I think we keep making quarterly gains both in
terms of revenue andi in terms of subscribers and engagements.
We're delivering on all the important metrics and that's happening
being true to ourselves, being authentic, and also offering the
(17:48):
best storytelling. I think you know in the industry, you know,
regardless of who I talk to, whether it's someone at
a big tech company or someone at a traditional media company, inevitably, Well,
if you're in tech, you want to talk about Star Wars,
but you want to talk about one of our beloved
pieces of IP. It is again, the pull of a
(18:12):
Disney story is tremendous, and I think we have an
ability to optimize content around our company in a way
that none other does. When you think about the wonderful
stories that we tell that are now distributed through Disney
Plus and then how they come to life in our parks,
(18:33):
on our cruise ships, at retail and consumer products. That
is completely unique to Disney, and we see our competitors
try to replicate that. Let's call it a flywheel, and
it's virtually impossible to start from scratch, and it's also
really difficult to do it without that IP.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
The streaming boom has slowed.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It seems like there's less getting made a studios keep
going back to established showrun. How would you describe this
moment in time in Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Well, I think we've been in transition for over a decade.
I think most of us who grew up in the
old Hollywood system have become very resilient and very accustomed
to change, and we are pivoting. We've recently hired a
new technology team of incredible engineers and product design executives
(19:26):
who have come from best in class technology companies, from
YouTube and Google and Meta, and the progress we're making
on that front is very encouraging. And you have to
keep moving forward, and you have to look at the
strength that you bring to this particular moment in our
(19:46):
business and really lay into the unique assets of each company,
and for us, that means designing product features that lean
uniquely into the ip of the world Disney Company.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Now, some of the critics would say that Disney Entertainment
is in a tough spot. Your share of streaming is plateauing,
profits have underperformed estimates. How do you see it and
what are you doing to shift that?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I think it depends on what moment in time we
are growing all of those important metrics. I'm not sure,
and I can't speak to whether expectations keep being set beyond.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Where we're delivering.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
But the growth is there, and that's what we're focused on,
which is growing making very interesting partnerships around the world
with local broadcasters, which is Disney comes as a friend
to the creative community. We want to keep the ecosystem
of creators of distribution in each of the markets where
we operate strong, and we think we can be an
(20:51):
asset to them, a partner, and also that we can coexist,
and that is not the strategy of all streaming service.
So we've been met with incredible optimism.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
In throughout Ania. I'm so sorry place. No, no, no, no, I'm
say I'm like, this is the residual cold.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
M I feel like, even if I don't have a cold,
especially when I need to be honest, I know, just
like sits in there and I know, hello, I'm in
your throat.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yes, yeah, So again in each of the markets, each
of our priority markets, we've had local originals switch are
hits now. That helps to inform our strategy going forward,
which also help us to expand our reach and to
offer a greater amount of content at a comparable price.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
There's also this perception that with everything that is Disney
quote unquote, now, I thought the stuff you've bought, the
stuff you've made, that the Disney brand itself has been diluted.
How do you respond to that? What is Disney's DNA.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yes, well, I would have to dispute that. I think
that that's not really fair. I think when you think
about the global box office over the past couple of
years with Inside Out, to and Mawana, to Utopia, to
About to be launched, the recent past with Encanto and Cocoa,
and the diversity of content, I think that this company is.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Judged very harshly because.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
People have very high expectations because they love it and
that connection that love, whether it's our programming for kids
where we know how important that programming is. You and
I were discussing it earlier. When kids connect to our stories,
they develop a life long connection and affinity for our
(22:45):
brand and our characters, which is unlike any other company.
We have the top three kids shows in streaming in
the US right now, and each of them sort of
illustrates what our strategy is, which is, you have the
original canon of characters, Mickey who's about to be one
hundred years old and has been refreshed a number of
(23:09):
times throughout that period and continues to stay beloved generation
to generations, so Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus.
Then we're also developing shows based on Marvel characters like
Spidey and his Amazing friends, the Avengers, iron Man, Young
Jedi from Star Wars. Again, that is helping our youngest
(23:33):
fans develop a connection to those characters.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
In a delightful way.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
With shows that are optimistic aspirational, they're so joyful and
parents trust us with their kids, which is again a
very unique phenomenon. And then along with our iconic IP,
we're always looking for original series for kids that share
those attributes, and there's no better example than Bluie. It
(24:01):
is a global phenomenon, as it should be. It's a
brilliant show. But it again it feels like Disney IP.
Bluie and her family will be walk around characters in
our domestic parks on our cruise ships. In twenty twenty seven,
will be releasing a blue film and it is excellent.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I have seen a sneak peek. So good.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
But what I would say is I just dispute the
notion because I see the facts. I mean, four billion
at the global box office right now, significantly ahead of
any other theatrical company and the most streamed shows in
the US, both in terms of our general entertainment. Gray's Anatomy,
(24:45):
Family Guy, Bob's, Burger's, The Simpsons, as well as our
kids programming. So I don't think that's a fair observation.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Shogun has turned out to be a huge success, and
you're trying to lean into more global and localized content.
Bob Iger said, you're taking a discipline approach to this.
What does that mean? What markets are on the table,
what's off the table?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Well, Disney Plus is currently in over one hundred and
fifty countries. We are not producing local originals in all
of them. We are picking key countries in each of
the regions and developing original content there and it's been
a really exciting part of my job. I have to say,
working in this industry for a long time, there was
(25:33):
a distribution model where we would take our gems right
our shows that were huge hits in the US, and
then we would hand them over to third party distributors
and just kind of hope for the best, and we
would get anecdotal information about whether they worked or didn't work,
But we were never boots on the ground really having
(25:53):
an understanding of what that consumer wants. And this original
strategy enables us to do that enables us to understand
the value of the Disney IP combined with hit general
entertainment shows that feel global like Showgun that you just
mentioned or Grey's Anatomy, and then take markets like UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France.
(26:22):
You know throughout Asia we have Japan and Korea and then.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Brazil and Mexico.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
A focus in Latin America where we're creating shows that
are not just for those countries. They travel, you know,
we know how those shows travel regionally when you get
them right.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Squid Game and The Crown are major hits. Like Netflix
does seem to be way ahead in this area.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Can you catch up? Well, I think you can.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I think you just named two shows, so I would
put up Showgun and Grey's Anatomy. Those are global hits.
They're coming from the US, but they work around the world.
We had a massive hit in Korea with a show
called Moving that signed up millions of subscribers and was
(27:10):
the envy of all of our competitors in that region.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So absolutely, the value of.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
A hit continues to be very meaningful. And frankly, each
of the streamers has found its way to a couple
that can work globally. I don't think that's typically the dynamic.
I think the whole reason behind trying to super serve,
trying to give these services local flare is about content
(27:39):
that feels very targeted to a certain audience, but when
you get it right, the fact that that can be
a global sensation that's happened.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
For all of us.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
There's a lot of curiosity about your post integration plans
for Hulu. You do have three separate apps between Hulu
and Disney.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Plus and ESPN.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
How problematic is it to have three different apps and
is a Disney super app coming?
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Well, I don't think it's problematic.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
I think it's actually hugely beneficial because even in the
way we bundle our services today, we really think the
best experience is to watch it all together on Disney Plus,
which is even currently you can be a subscriber to
the Trio Bundle or the Triple Bundle as Bob calls it,
and you can watch the best of ESPN games together
(28:28):
with the Hulu General Entertainment and Deep Library shows, along
with the iconic Disney IP all together on Disney Plus.
Ultimately being able to continue to advance that UI and
making sure that Disney Plus is a place where if
you're a Hulu dominant subscriber, you love opening the Disney
(28:52):
Plus app and watching that type of show there. If
you're coming in predominantly for ESPN, you open the app
and the environment feels like it is personalized and specific
to you.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And that is the.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Direction we're moving because we think ultimately it's easier, it
reduces the friction to be able.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
To access it all in one place.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
So does that mean a super app is coming?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean, I know Bob said.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You're working on some big significant changes.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
We're on the path to delivering that experience all in
one place. And that is not said to send a
message to any Hulu subscribers that they're not going to
have the exact type of experience they love. At the
point we get there, that will be because each cohort
(29:38):
has the experience that they love together in one app.
But for the time being a lot of people are
watching it all together on Disney Plus.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
You got the Kardashians to come to Hulu after a
year is long, very successful run at NBC. So between
the Kardashians and Mormon wives are unscripted originals seem to
be working. What's the next frontier in Reac.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
I think that we're finding the next frontier. I mean
every hit, every new hit, is indicative of what's to come,
and they always borrow something from a tried and true formula.
But they have a slight twist with the Kardashians. Leaving
keeping up with the Kardashians and just becoming the Kardashians
(30:22):
was a huge move for them. The show is far
more cinematic. The starting place is with women who are
probably all billionaires, if not on their way to being that,
they're successful entrepreneurs. It's a new generation of and aspirational
in terms of how fans want to engage with that family.
(30:44):
I would say that's the evolution of what the strategy
was with that show with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
That's a subculture that people are fascinated with, and yet
there are so many of the elements of just an
old fashion hit reality show that are there. But it
feels like the next generation for us. It is utilizing
(31:09):
all of those assets to create sort of a virtuous
circle of engagement.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
If you look at our.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Mormon Wives and then they are contestants on Dancing with
the Stars, and then the winner of Dancing with the
Stars ends up in their own show with elements of
dancing in it, and then the Kardashians have connected tissue
with some of these shows. It is trying to make
sure that unlike what used to happen previously, which was
(31:40):
you had to wait for a new season of your
favorite show, our shows all have elements of each of
those shows which are beloved.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We got to talk to Kim and Ryan. That's the
All's Fair premiere. All's Fair hasn't gotten great reviews. This
was a big sway. How do you think about the.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Hits and miss Well, I would not call All's Fair
miss It is actually performing incredibly well with the audience,
and look, I would say critical acclaim is great and
we're very happy when that is part of our campaign
to launch a show.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
But ultimately we're creating shows for our audience and for
our subscribers, and not really for critics.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So I actually.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Think the critics being extreme in their reaction activated in
particular Kims followers and created an entire new wave of
publicity and attention for the show that really benefited the show.
The show's fun, and it's original, and it's dishy, and
(32:48):
it's addictive. It's irrelevant that we had to disconnect with
some of the critics.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
When it comes to streaming, the biggest audience doesn't even
belong to a Hollywood entertainment company.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's YouTube.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Some analysts protect that YouTube is on its way to
surpassing Disney as the largest media company in the world.
How big a threat is YouTube and how are you
changing your strategy to compete?
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Again, as I said earlier, clearly a lot has changed
over the past decade. You know, we're dealing with different dynamics,
and that's happening at a faster pace as we compete
with big technology. I do have to laugh when I
think about many of the meetings that I have with
people in those tech companies, where ultimately we spend some
(33:38):
portion of that meeting talking about as I said before,
Star Wars, but all of our iconic IP or Showgun
or the thing that keeps us at the table with
big technology is no company will ever be able to
generate a library of stories like this company has over
(34:03):
the past hundred years. And that IP is precious and
it's unique to us, and it is helping to create
a path for the future in terms of how we
compete and what the future might look like.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
You just ended a pretty resolved, I should say, you
just resolved a pretty heated carriage fee dispute with YouTube TV.
It raises the question who needs who more? Does Disney
need YouTube or does YouTube need Disney.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Well, I think the deal that we ended up with
is illustrative of the fact that we kind of need
each other.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And I would say that.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Deal ended in a win win win situation where YouTube
TV one, while Disney Company one and consumers one. Because
these deals are all they are all different now, the
carriage agreements. It's not like the old days where there
was a one size fits all every company, whether it's satellite, cable, internet,
(35:03):
big tech, they all have different needs. They all have
a different strategy for how they want to appeal to
their consumers.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
And for us, trying.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
To be flexible and understand what the priorities are have
enabled us to craft deals that work very well for us.
They're different from the ones that we've made in the past.
But whether it's packaging, genre packaging, or a deal that
shifts away value from what were channels that were important
(35:36):
in our ecosystem to our future facing business which looks
more like a direct to consumer business. That value exchange
has enabled us to resolve these deals.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
They're heeded.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I think they have been across the board in the industry,
but the result is pretty innovative deal making that where
both companies came out with what they needed.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Okay, hard pave, let's talk about Kimmel.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Wow, that's a really hard It is a hard pitot.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Okay, what happened and what were the conversations between you
and Bob and Jimmy.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Well, that was a very hard period.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Obviously, it was something I hope that I don't have
to revisit in my career, and Jimmy has spoken about
it extensively, so I don't want to cover any of
the ground that he's already covered. I think maybe the
thing that I could tell you that I don't think
has been meaningfully covered is what you just asked. What
(36:35):
we were thinking in that moment that we decided to
hit pause on his show, And it had nothing to
do with any external factors.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
We were thinking about only one thing as we made
that decision very close to his show going back up
on that Wednesday, and that was the situation was extremely
hated we wanted to take the temperature down. We didn't
think that was going to be possible that night, so
we hit pause to have conversations with Jimmy. Jimmy is
(37:11):
a great partner. He's been a partner to this company
for over two decades.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
He's a good friend of mine.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Those conversations were thoughtful, they were meaningful, and ultimately what
they resulted in was Jimmy coming back on the air
really four days later in terms of.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Shows missed with a pitch perfect.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Monologue where he met the moment in the way that
we hoped he could in a way that took the
temperature down and was reflective of a lot of thoughtful conversation,
thinking ultimately about several groups. We wanted to resolve the
(37:57):
situation in a certain way, to pre techt our employees,
to think about our audience, to think about Jimmy and
his staff, and ultimately, I feel like everyone was protected
in the best way possible through the process that we
engaged in, which only happened because of the strength of
(38:18):
the relationships that exist between us and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Did President Trump call you or Bob or vice versa.
Did you get any pressure from the White House we
did not hear from them, So this was a trial
by fire moment. When you look back, how do you
think you handled it? And is there anything that you
would have done differently?
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
I'm enormously proud of how we handled it. Again, it
was a very unique situation. It was something I'd never
dealt with before in a long career of dealing with
many different types of crisis.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
But working through.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
It at the pace we did, getting the result ultimately
that we did for all of us. Yes, I don't
think there's anything I would have done differently at this point,
because anything I would have changed would have risked the
ultimate outcome, which I thought was very good.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
There are reports that cancelations of Disney Plus and who
spiked after the incident. I'm not sure if you can
confirm that. But how do you balance free speech and
creative freedom in a polarized climate.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Well, I think those reports were highly exaggerated, and I
can tell you that a number of those cancelations were
saved once Jimmy was back, And the fact that Jimmy
was prepared to be so honest, so candid about the process,
I think was very cathartic for his fans as well, again,
(39:48):
we ended up back. You saw the number of subscribers
that we reported during our earnings, we had a very
strong quarter. I think that this issue is firmly in our.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Past, from President Trump to Jeff Bezos to Barry Weis
who's now at CBS. The power centers and media are multiplying,
audiences are splintering, trust is eroding. You sit at this
really interesting intersection of journalism and politics and corporate power.
(40:19):
What does it mean to oversee ABC at this particular
moment in time.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Well, I would say that we have stayed true to
what our strategy has been consistently at ABC News. I
have enormous respect for the journalists who work at ABC News.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
They make me proud every day.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
The goal and ultimately what we're trying to deliver on
is straight forward news.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
It's not biased news, it's not editorialized. It is straightforward
news from many of the people who I think are
best in class in their business. So what we think
about every day is that is do we have.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
The right contributors?
Speaker 3 (41:09):
And the answer is yes, Is it being run in
a way that we can all stand behind proudly?
Speaker 4 (41:15):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Deborah O'Connell and Alman Kerma Medovich. They just every day
are thinking about our consumer, our viewer.
Speaker 4 (41:27):
They're thinking about it, Deborah.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Overseas, our owned television stations as well, and our local
news teams, and we're thinking about what is our responsibility
trying to not be distracted by a lot of news.
And I think it's the reason why Good Morning America
is the number one morning show and why World News
(41:49):
Tonight is many many times when we're not in prime
sports season, the number one show on broadcast is World
News Tonight. I think it's because we're saying true to
those values.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
I believe Bob sits right behind that door. How would
you describe your relationship with Bob Eiger? What have you
learned from him and how has that impacted your work
in your life.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Yeah, it's been an extraordinary relationship that I value highly.
We are not only colleagues. We have a very good
friendship and he is a terrific mentor.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
I feel lucky.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I want to pinch myself every day that I have
the opportunity to learn from him, learn about the strategy
of how he built this company to where it is,
and then to understand what it was like to come
back and take over in very difficult times and write
the ship. So it is the opportunity of a lifetime
(42:44):
and it was one of the reasons I came to
Disney was to learn from Bob.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
The biggest story in Hollywood now is who's going to
be the next CEO of Disney. And there are pundits
and analysts all over TV and podcasts talking about who's
in the lead, and you're one of the leading candidates,
so they're often talking about you. They're often pitting you
against your colleagues. What's it been like for you on
the inside?
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Well, being pit against my colleagues, I don't appreciate because
we have incredible relationships. We are a very tight organization.
We collaborate often. Again, you think about the ip that
we work on that is brought to life across our
parks and experiences, business, the sports that Jimmy oversees, that
(43:33):
ultimately is part of what's on ABC and how we
bring our streaming services to life. You know, again, what
Josh Allen and Jimmy contribute enormous And we not only
have great business relationships, we have a lot of fun
working together. So anything that is a distraction from that
(43:54):
is unfortunate because it's not the truth. But I have
enormous faith in where this company's going. I'm very confident.
Part of why I'm confident is there's a world class
team at this company who is navigating the path into
the future, and this company is strong and we are
going to succeed.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Do you try to tune out the noise?
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Absolutely, it's not helpful. The noise is I understand it.
It's a great soap opera for whomever it is that's
trying to create soap operatic dynamics, which really don't exist.
You're on this floor, you can see it would be
really hard to create the dynamics that some might suggest.
(44:37):
On this floor, it's just a peaceful environment where people
are collaborating.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Well, you are the expert. I'm making good shows. So,
since you mentioned the soap operas, if this was a
scripted series, would it be a drama, comedy, thriller?
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Who should play you? Who should play me?
Speaker 3 (44:57):
These are things I haven't thought about. And I again,
when I think about how to create a schedule where
I can fit all of the things I need to
accomplish in all day, this is not one of the
things I put on my calendar. You know, again, I'm
incredibly confident about where we're going.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I want to talk a little bit about M and
A because there's some potentially big shifts in the industry
on the horizon. Companies being bought, companies getting broken up.
Do you see a role for Disney And if not,
are you worried that a stronger competitor will come out
of this.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
I don't worry about a stronger competitor coming out of it,
because we already went through an incredible transformation in twenty
nineteen as Disney integrated the entertainment.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Assets of Fox.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
We already went through a big em andy event to
expand our library, to increase the amount of IP that
we ultimately could take over the top directly to the consumer.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
So I'm not worried right now. I also think.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
Whichever whoever ends up in this situation acquiring WBD or
any asset that's available, these are situations that require a
lot of time, time for regulatory approval, time for integration,
time to figure out how to combine apps. A lot
of the things that we've already been through.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Well, speaking of being through things, you have been at
the center of so many reinventions. Obviously TV streaming, Now
there's AI, the reinvention of this company. What do you
think it's going to take to lead one hundred year
old company into the next century.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Well, I think it's a lot of the things we're
doing right now. We're going direct to the consumer, as
we have in our experiences business for a very long time,
knowing them, understanding the consumer, being able to personalize experienceperiences,
building out our technology product, creating features again that are
(47:06):
unique to this ip that will delight people the same
way they are delighted when they go to our parks,
And if you go to our parks wherever they exist
in the world, you will see the same phenomenon, which
is a family or just adults about to have one
(47:27):
of their very best days. And being able to capture
that experience in our product is a top priority and
that is how we're moving into the future.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Is the golden age of entertainment behind us or is
the best so yet to come?
Speaker 4 (47:45):
Oh? I don't think it's behind us at all.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I think even in a world of AI more premium,
are the best stories and the best life experiences, and
those are two of the sweet spots of the Walt
Disney Company. So again, I think those stories are going
to continue to matter for a very long time. I
think we're going to continue doing that, and it's going
(48:08):
to mean something to future generations and especially to parents
who want to pass down that experience to their own kids.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
All Right, so the best is yet to come, I
think so absolutely.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Circuit.
You can check out the full episode to see how
Dana Walden and a cast of Disney stars including Kim Kardashian,
Chris Jenner, and Ellen Pompeo, are reinventing what it means
to watch TV.
Speaker 4 (48:33):
I'm Emily Chang.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
You can follow me on x and Instagram at Emily
Chang TV. You can watch new episodes of the Circuit
on Bloomberg Television on YouTube or on demand by downloading
the Bloomberg app to your smart TV. And check out
other Bloomberg podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you
listen to your shows, and please let us know what
you think leave a review.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
We love reviews.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
They really help generate momentum for the show. I'm your
host and executive producer. Our senior producer is Lauren Ellis,
Our editor is Grammercy Post
Host
Emily Chang
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