Short film business highlights: Disney+bets on direct content to grab the attention of young generations

Following the launch of "Verts" for ESPN in August last year, Disney+announced at CES that it will launch a direct to video feature this year to consolidate its market position in a content format that caters to the younger generation.

The viewing habits of the younger generation are reshaping the content industry. As mobile Internet natives, their entertainment scenes are highly fragmented, and mobile phones are the core viewing terminals. Direct video does not require landscape display, adapts to vertical grip habits, and accurately meets the information needs of "short, flat, and fast". Data shows that the daily average usage time of short videos among young people exceeds 90 minutes, and the commercial potential behind the huge user hours is the core driving force behind Disney's layout.

Disney+'s move is not a sudden transformation, but rather Disney's continuous deepening of the short film track. Last August, ESPN "Verts" tested the young market through sports highlights and behind the scenes footage, accumulating operational experience. The extension of this feature to Disney+marks the upgrade of the short film strategy to a group level layout, covering a wider range of entertainment fields. It is reported that its direct short films will include customized original short dramas for mobile phones, high-energy collections of classic movies and TV shows, etc., to reduce the viewing threshold with lightweight content.

For Disney+, this feature is key to responding to competition and increasing user stickiness. The current streaming industry is fiercely competitive, with giants such as Netflix diverting attention from short video platforms like TikTok, and long video platforms facing retention challenges. Disney has top IPs such as Marvel and Star Wars, and through direct secondary development of short films, it can deeply explore the value of IPs, strengthen influence, and attract young users to register and retain them. As its executives have said, 'Wherever there are users, we have to go.' Direct short films are an important medium for communicating with the younger generation.

From the perspective of industry trends, the layout of Disney+reflects the inevitability of long video platforms penetrating short videos. Previously, Netflix and others have experimented with vertical screen content in an attempt to increase user engagement frequency. Disney's addition further confirms the business opportunities of short films, accelerating the transformation of content forms in the streaming industry, promoting content creation from landscape storytelling to direct to lightweight storytelling, and reshaping the monetization logic to build a consumption loop of "short drainage, long conversion".