Disney brings on-demand services under ABC Studios banner

Disney is rebranding its on-demand services as part of a wider initiative to have ‘ABC Studios’ as an umbrella brand for its content products and services.

Catherine Powell, senior VP, Media Distribution, EMEA at The Walt Disney Company, told TBI that moving forward SVOD platforms that want Disney-distributed content will be sold it as part of an ABC Studios branded service. Those that want features will take them under Disney Movies On Demand banner.

The rebranding is part of a wider move to have the ABC Studios brand across digital products and services as well as DVDs and physical products.

The ABC Studios On Demand rebrand takes effect immediately.

Disney regards and programmes its branded SVOD service as a non-linear channel, Powell said. “It is getting such traction and is a core part of our distribution strategy and way to make our series available,” she told TBI. “We wanted consistency across all platforms – physical and digital – and we see this as part of pulling all of our [TV] content under one brand.”

ABC shows on the ABC Studios On Demand are available in what Disney calls the “second chance” window, which means current returning series are available a season behind their transmission on their primary broadcaster. Once a given season of a returning series has aired on the channel that has licensed it, it can them be made available on the branded on-demand service.

Current returning ABC series include Revenge and Castle. Library series including Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy also feature on the SVOD offering.

To date, the service is in 16 territories, sometimes on more than one platform. In the UK, for example, it is on BSkyB, BT and LoveFilm. Disney says the on-demand services are carried on 26 platforms in all throughout the EMEA region.

The move to unite content under the ABC Studios moniker follows research Sharon Williams, VP marketing, media distribution, Disney EMEA, conducted, which resulted in distilling the core message of ABC content to the strap line ‘irresistible TV’, which can be seen in the new logo (pictured).