Disney Eyes Discounts, Perk Membership Program

Walt Disney is looking into a membership program with discounts and perks to get customers to spend more on its various streaming services, parks, resorts and merchandise, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote Wednesday (Aug. 31).

This would be similar to Amazon Prime, which offers advantages like free shipping and a streaming video service.

The discussions are still in the early stages, and though some executives have called it “Disney Prime” internally that won’t be the name of the program.

Disney could offer more value to customers with the program, prompting them to spend more on its various products and also giving Disney much more information about consumer preferences.

Bob Chapek, Disney CEO, has been a big proponent of getting the company to do more cross-selling, and he’s highlighted Disney’s “unique synergy machine” on a call with analysts, saying one of the virtues of the company was how it could reach people in many different ways.

Kristina Schake, senior executive vice president and chief communications officer with the company, said technology was “giving us new ways to customize and personalize the consumer experience, so that we are delivering entertainment, experiences and products that are most relevant to each of our guests.”

Disney has had other recent successes, with the Disney+ streaming service getting 14.4 million new subscribers as of the quarter ending July 2, which put it over the total amount Netflix had.

Read more: Disney+ Subscribers Top Netflix Just as Consumers Rethink Streaming Media Costs

The company said that the three services it offers, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, had a total of 221.1 million paid subscribers, while Netflix had 220.7 million paid memberships.

Chapek, at the time, said the company was looking at transforming entertainment “with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.”