Disney+ Faces Tech Glitches on Release
The long-awaited unveiling of Disney’s streaming platform Disney+ was met with lukewarm applause yesterday. While many hardcore fans immediately signed up to use the service, the general public was disappointed with the tech glitches the entertainment superpower had in their applications. It’s unclear how many people actually signed up to use Disney+, but investors saw it as a positive, with the company’s stock rising 1.2%. The company’s most significant competitor, Netflix, saw a decline in its share value by 1.2% yesterday as well.
Quality over Quantity?
Disney’s streaming platform boasts roughly 500 movies and over 7,500 tv shows. In anticipation of the streaming platform’s launch, Disney started terminating access to its intellectual property titles. The consumer demand for Disney’s shows has a lot to do with nostalgia. The company intends to cash in on this by offering its shows exclusively on its streaming platform. Competing platforms such as Netflix and Hulu may see significant competition from the company, although many casual fans of the company have approached the situation with caution.
Overloading the Platform
Engineers at Disney’s streaming headquarters must have underestimated the demand the platform would have, with many users being greeted by a blue-screen bearing Mickey Mouse’s head and an invitation to close the app and restart it. Additionally, some Apple users had a hard time locating Disney’s app within the Apple store. Signing up didn’t present a problem for users, but accessing the service once their accounts were verified (and paid for) made many consumers angry.
How Many Services is Too Many?
Casual users of online streaming services were not overly enthusiastic about the release. Several saw it as another cash-grab by the massive entertainment studio. One of the most important things to note is that many users turned to streaming platforms as a way to avoid using unstable pirate streaming sites. With the advent of streaming services splitting up their content into individual channels, we may see more users turning to pirate streaming sites to get the content they want without having to pay subscription fees that aren’t worth the price.
