On Monday afternoon, The Walt Disney Company announced a major restructuring of its media and entertainment divisions in order to put themselves in a better position for their direct-to-consumer approach.

The strategic reorganization will centralize its creative media into a single organization responsible for content distribution, ad sales, and Disney+.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has essentially paralyzed the theatrical side of their business leading them to become more reliant on Disney+.

As of August, Disney has 100 million paid subscribers across its streaming offerings, more than half of which are subscribers to Disney+.

“Given the incredible success of Disney+ and our plans to accelerate our direct-to-consumer business, we are strategically positioning our Company to more effectively support our growth strategy and increase shareholder value,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement announcing the reorganization. “Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it.”

The former president of games and publishing – Kareem Daniel – has been promoted as part of the reorganization and will now oversee the new media and entertainment distribution group ensuring that streaming becomes profitable. Going forward, Daniel will be partly responsible for making big decisions about Disney’s theatrical and streaming release schedules.

Source: CNBC