Disney Is ‘Pretty Dramatically’ Reducing Spending on Traditional TV Content, CEO Iger Says

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney CEO Bob Iger said that as the traditional pay-TV universe continues to shrink, the company is cutting its investment in content for linear TV networks while also amortizing that expenditure across streaming platforms.

The strategy is “to reduce pretty dramatically our investment in content specifically aimed in those traditional networks,” Iger said Wednesday at MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York.

Iger gave credit to Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, who oversees the portfolio of linear networks, for the transition.

Disney will invest in some traditional TV areas, Iger said, but it is managing traditional networks and the streaming platforms under the leadership of one executive — Walden — whose goal is “basically to drive bottom-line growth.” For example, when ABC airs a new episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Abbott Elementary,” it goes on Hulu “pretty quickly” and “what we’re getting is unduplicated audiences.