Disney Plus Expands Beyond North America... OTT Landscape Set for Dramatic Shift

(Photo by The Verge)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Yujin] Disney's online video service (OTT) Disney Plus is expanding its territory beyond North America by launching in 42 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. As Disney Plus, considered a strong competitor to Netflix, aggressively expands its subscriber base, a major shift in the global OTT market landscape is anticipated.

On the 26th (local time), Disney Plus announced that it will launch services this summer in 42 countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and South Africa. This marks a significant expansion beyond North America since its initial launch in 2019. Facing stagnation in subscriber growth in the North American market, Disney Plus is turning overseas as a breakthrough strategy.

In particular, there is high expectation for the Asian markets such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, where new subscribers have recently increased, as well as for the Latin American market.

Foreign media reported that this expansion of Disney Plus’s service regions could continue to pressure competitors like Netflix and influence changes in the market landscape.

Disney Plus boasts powerful content including popular franchises such as Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic documentaries.

It has already secured 118.1 million subscribers globally as of the end of last year. When combined with subscribers of Disney-affiliated services like Hulu and ESPN Plus, the total subscriber count reaches 179 million, narrowing the gap with industry leader Netflix, which has 221.8 million subscribers.

Disney Plus and other major OTT companies plan to make large-scale investments in original content acquisition this year to attract subscribers.

According to corporate business reports, the top eight OTT companies in the U.S. have allocated at least $115 billion (approximately 136.5 trillion KRW) for investments this year.

Including investments in original content such as movies and TV programs as well as sports broadcasting rights, the total investment is expected to reach $140 billion.

As the market rapidly expanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new entrants have intensified competition, pushing companies to bet heavily on content investment as a breakthrough strategy.

Content investment is expected to be a key factor that will change the OTT market landscape. Currently, the global OTT market is led by Netflix, with Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus ranking second and third. New entrants in the past two to three years such as Apple TV, Peacock, Hulu, HBO Max, and Paramount Plus are aiming to challenge Netflix by strengthening their original content.

Michael Nathanson, a media analyst at U.S. Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson, said, "In the fierce competition of the OTT market, the only way for companies to gain an advantageous position is through securing original content."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.