How Disney+ grows

Every day by noon, a data person sent the Disney+ president an email with exactly three bullets (up to two sub-bullets each): what changed yesterday and what to focus on, with context a dashboard hides (e.g. an EU sign-up rise came from a Netherlands promo that missed its target). The writer must be freed from low-value report requests and trusted to pick the right things.

With 1.5 years of runway before launch, built one first-party clickstream system (Glimpse) as the only tracking integration in the app, normalized across devices, so data went only to Disney (simpler GDPR/consent, no vendor seeing volume). Because the team had never done it at this scale, also signed an Adobe contract and integrated it lightly so it could be pulled out. Compared both in the first weeks after launch, then removed Adobe. Event volume later grew 3-4x.

Instead of events like download_clicked/started/paused/completed, track a generic click action with hierarchical keys (button within container within set within page). Map keys to meaning behind the scenes and enrich the stream downstream (e.g. classify as 'project created') for each team, while keeping the raw data. Capture state changes instead of repeating ~100 identical metadata fields on every event. Give the system a memorable, unambiguous name (Glimpse, replacing 'UAT', which clashed with User Acceptance Testing) so everyone knows what 'the events' means.

Bluey sat in a Disney Junior row at the bottom of adult profiles (25 rows down, 15-20 tiles across), dropped out of Continue Watching once finished, ranked below Blue's Clues in search, and kid profiles had no search. Engagement showed 98-99% episode completion, full-season completion and rewatching. Short term: move the title or row higher. Long term: nudge parents to set up child profiles by showing the benefit (their kid's shows always at hand, cleaner adult recommendations). Fast real-time signals can also feed merch, live shows and parks planning.

Executives assumed buckets like Star Wars/Marvel super fans or Disney animation fans. Data science and analytics teams were given room to explore and found groups such as parents with young kids, parents with older kids, adult couples, single adults and teens shared more behavior patterns, and the team reoriented around them.

Disney+ announced its price increase two to three weeks before premieres of Ahsoka and a big Marvel series, with the new price taking effect mid-series, so the bad press landed first and subscribers were engaged in new shows when it hit. Guest's version: tease or ship features that materially improve the product, reaffirm the value prop in the comms, say how the money improves the product, and never blame inflation.

Disney+ launched at about $5/month, was given free to many Verizon customers via a partnership, offered heavily discounted annual plans at launch, and bundled with ESPN+ and Hulu. Price increases came later once growth slowed.