The Smartest Move For Disney+? Make it an Experience.

They’re primed perfectly for it, if they only try.

Look, Disney doesn’t need my advice. They’re a multi-billion dollar media conglomerate that makes more money per minute than I have skin cells. Consider this more of a request than a demand.

I’ve observed a lament amongst some fellow media lovers that the “experience” of art is dying. The younger generations stream their music, movies, and games, so why would anyone have any reason to leave the house and actually do something anymore?

For the purposes of this article, let’s put aside the fact that easier access to art helps strike down capitalistic endeavors to ensure only well-off people can access it. Instead, I want to additionally argue that it’s not that people who care about art don’t care about the experience of it anymore–they just want to make that experience worth paying for.

One need not look further than the vinyl revival. What began mostly as a cabal of nerd holding onto old plastic, now has resurrected an industry that commands hundreds of millions of dollars again. Most of the people making these purchases were not alive when record players were the dominant medium of the music market, and yet people who love music get excited to see their favorite albums done justice with a timeless, physical piece of packaging that can be displayed, played, and loved. Record stores, both new and old, provide a sense of community and exploration.

Record Revolution in Cleveland, OH. // Photo: Cleveland Scene.

This mushroom cloud shows no sign of stopping. The top three weeks for vinyl records sold since 1991 all occurred within four months of this article’s writing. Meanwhile, iTunes downloads and CD sales continue to plummet, and I think it’s because neither format can boast either convenience nor a retro glam that can be displayed on walls or plastic crates. Streaming for everyday, everywhere listening. Vinyl for your collections. Anything in-between is probably not selling well anymore.

Consider the collective Internet’s search for more sustainable forms of revenue outside of eyesore ads for hot celebrity grandmas in your area or this one weird weight loss tip that the government hid inside the faked moon landing footage. Now the creation of art can be put directly into the hands of the reader/viewer/listener with sites like Patreon that rely entirely on the artist’s audience to financially support the things they love in exchange for merchandise, a deeper sense of community, or just pure goodwill. The appeal to people who donate monthly to creators and influencers they love is that they are indefinitely transformed into an inner circle of sorts, gaining access to exclusive materials while knowing that they are part of the reason that artist’s media exists at all.

Patreon expects to process more than $500 million in payments this year.

It’s not that Millennials (and younger) aren’t paying for things they care about. They’re spending less money on things at all, often preferring experiences. Forbes did an article on this very phenomenon that I found myself nodding along with. To quote its writer, Blake Morgan:

Why do millennials value experiences over things? Because it makes them happy. And they aren’t wrong — studies have found that spending money on experiences brings more lasting joy than spending money on things. Experiences are also more shareable, which is important to younger generations.

What does this have to do with Disney+? Only that Disney’s most distinctive trait is presentation. Their parks are essentially a tour de force of psychological contentment. Controlled scents. A shade of green designed to deflect notice. Underground tunnels to transport cast members. Forced perspective to increase awe.

Clever architectural design and an upward walk on Walt Disney World’s Main Street USA allows Cinderella Castle to appear much larger than it is.

Of course, everything Disney does is in relation to its image. Not exactly a secret. But they’re damn great at it, and that’s why creating a streaming service like no other would be a worthy challenge.

I remember the first DVD I ever owned. On Christmas 2002, Santa gave my family a copy of Pixar’s Monster’s Inc. Having previously lived off of VHS, I was already amused at the idea that this new device had a remote of its own. After watching the prerequisite previews, the main menu pops up. Jazzy music plays as cut-out animations of monsters fly in and out of doors. It felt like putting in a video game. What is this?

After watching and adoring the movie, I proceeded to load disc two, and subsequently had my mind minced. Hours and hours of bonus material were split into a kids section and a behind-the-scenes section starring the filmmakers themselves. To get to each menu, the viewer actually traveled throughout the fictional Monster’s Inc. company, encountering familiar characters along the way, and opening dozens of doors for even more menus and juicy material. There were hidden bonuses that could be found by using the remote’s arrows in unusual places. There were short films–one of which was created just for the DVD–games that could be played, promotional videos, early simulation tests, and screenshots of hundreds of pages of production art.

A walkthrough of the second disc of the Monster’s Inc. release

It was–in short–an unforgettable experience. Exploring this new technology made me feel like I was enjoying a movie in a way I had never quite enjoyed one before. From that day forth, I realized that movies could be more than the product itself. I don’t know how much of that M.I. DVD was Disney’s clever design or Pixar’s, but nevertheless it established in me the Disney guarantee of bringing me something truly exciting. It perfectly suited their obsessive use of the word “magic.”

Disney continues to produce DVDs, Blu-rays, and sometimes even 4K Blu-rays for the movies they create and own the rights to, and it says something about the company that even though these home media releases are now less cleverly crafted, they still contain a lot of excellent behind-the-scenes material, although some of it is only relegated to digital download viewers. It’s not surprising that Disney wouldn’t put as much effort into making their physical media. It takes up a smaller amount of their profits and everyone else’s. 2016 was the year streaming subscriptions surpassed money spent on all other formats, and now there’s Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access, HBO Now, YouTube Red, and Sony Crackle, with promise of more platforms to come. DEG reported that DVD and Blu-ray sales dipped by 15% between 2017 and 2018 alone.

This project effectively obliterates Disney’s “Vault” gimmick if they live up to their promise that most of their back catalog will be available within the first year of launching Plus. The Vault, an invention spawned of the VHS boom of the 80s, was the Disney Company’s way of artificially limiting access to their classic movies by making them only available for a short period of time before they allegedly went back into a fictional vault, only to be available for another short period in the future. By removing this long-held strategy, Disney+ not only helps usher the slow demise of traditional television, but their own home entertainment department. A risky deal.

So, all the stakes are lined up. Young people are paying for valuable experiences over physical items. Discs are dying. Everyone and their problematic dad is starting a streaming service. Disney is risking the entire future of their DVD sales. They are known for their transformative ability to make you believe one of the biggest corporations in the world has a heart and cares deeply about how you buy into every single thing it does.

This is Disney’s chance to once again reclaim the crown of unparalleled quality.

They already have an incredible head start. By pricing themselves at a mere $7 a month, capitalizing off the addition of their recently purchased Fox library, and announcing brand-new shows from their I.P. featuring the original actors, the formal Disney+ announcement was heavily rewarded in the stock market and in explosive social media buzz.

Bob Iger, CEO of Disney. // Photo: Stephen Desaulniers, CNBC

But what of the experience?

I beg thee, Disney: what of the experience?

This should be a natural challenge suited for them. A smart decision already made was to show off that the service will feature highlighted areas on some of their most potent properties, like Marvel and Star Wars sections. There could potentially be some room for immersive creativity there.

It wouldn’t be hard to be a little different either. Rival services like Netflix and Hulu still look more like a first-generation smartphone app than a legitimately immersive way to watch something. Oh sure they’ve added automated trailers and some genuinely clever thumbnail technology, but otherwise they look pretty similar to the way they did when they first started. It’s an oddly two-dimensional way to reinvent television.

Imagine instead a streaming service designed more like old-school DVD menus. When you click on the movie, franchise, or TV show perhaps you could be swept into an animated environment or background. Imagine once again having a selection of bonus features of the kind that most people now rarely get to see anymore. Maybe even some of those amusing hidden Easter eggs. Suddenly, you’re not clicking on a thumbnail like you’re about to watch a YouTube video–you’ve been put inside a different frame of mind.

They wouldn’t have to stick to what’s been done before either. Perhaps the movie you are considering could visualize into a tree graph that allows you to explore similar shows and films. I’m not talking about the already pre-established “you may also like” suggestions that already get mixed into busy interfaces. I’m saying you explore a graphic menu that would go much more in depth. Tap right and there’s the sequel. Tap up and here’s a movie by the same director or featuring the same actor. Tap left for a documentary on the same topic as the film. So on. So forth.

Or what if instead of letting the autoplay feature choose your next episode or movie, you could create a weekly playlist, almost imitating schedules for network television? It’s Friday and the kids are up late, so auto play me the next episodes of Monsters at Work, What If? and Timmy Failure back-to-back. Tuesday night, play me two episodes of The World According to Jeff Goldblum and one of The Mandalorian.

What about a roulette feature in which a random film is chosen for you? A pop-up version of the movie featuring fun facts or a sing-a-long version with a bouncing ball? The possibilities are limitless. So what are the geniuses of Burbank cooking up?

Ah. Okay. Gotcha. Copy-and-paste Netflix.

Cool.

They’re still going to get my money.