Disney wants to be everywhere the viewer is, whether that's on a phone, a PC or a TV. And while the company says it's open to alternative distribution platforms (such as Hulu), it's extremely reluctant to stream the video on anything other than its own player.
"At the core of it, video is still precious to us in terms of how we manage the inventory and monetize it, and that won't change," said Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media at Disney|ABC, while speaking at Streaming Media West. "There's so much buzz around distribution, but nobody knows how to make money off it. Our goal is to build a successful business and our player produces measurable results."
An interesting side note: Despite all the talk about broadcast networks trading in "analog dollars for digital pennies," Cheng says that just isn't the case at Disney.
"It's more like comparing a fullgrown adult to a teenager," says Cheng. "At ABC.com, the gap between [the web] and TV isn't all that huge. It's not dollars to pennies."
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