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1.7 million sounds like a big number however what is the total amount of subscribers for Disney?
If Disney has 100 million subscribers and Disney freaks out about losing 1.7% of subscribers. It kinda shows how easy it is to apply economic pressure to companies.
1.7% is still a HUGE drop in that context. This is a sector, at a time, that does not like subscriber losses.
Yes, stuff like this works. It's why they worry about MAGA controversy too, unfortunately.
It is reportedly around 130 million. I suspect the reason why Disney is freaked out about the loss is that it's costs are almost entirely fixed. It takes the same amount of money to produce a movie or a show regardless of how many people end up watching it. Unlike producing physical goods where less customers also means less materials and work needed. So losing subscribers decreases their revenue but unlike other businesses, it does not decrease their expenses, putting their budget in trouble much faster.
My brother-in-law quit his local tv station job over the censorship. Affiliate network. Proud of him!
And then gained the majority of them back immediately after unsuspending him I would guess? As consumers, we are far far far too quick to forgive.
It's good to reward good behavior too. If none of them came back then they might as well have just shrugged their shoulders and said "oh well" and left him off air.
From Disney's perspective, the point of unsuspending Kimmel wasn't to gain back all the subscribers they lost.. It was to stop the further hemorrhaging of additional subscribers!
Maybe the situation here is different, but in the video game industry when boycotts happen due to scummy business practices and then get instantly forgiven, those companies in question usually figure out a new way to implement those scummy practices that flies under the radar. Or they just do it again, at a better time.
I can't help but feel Disney will now work out a new way to appease the fascist regime, but without openly annoying supporters like this. Maybe those private "thoughtful conversations" they had with Kimmel contained some directives. Maybe we'll get a more neutered show now. Appeasing the regime is the problem really.
Let's see first.
I could give a fuck less about corpo profits. I care only to the point where they can be used to manipulate the corpos.
The left gets to see headlines like this that seem devastating and they pump their fists in satisfaction.
The right pumps their fist as they see their own set of headlines that describe a totally different narrative, that despite facing unfair backlash, that the "woke mob" has been dealt a blow and has learned that Disney isn't going to ignore the dangerous and violent rhetoric that the late night grifters spew.
Either way, Disney has calculated all of this, and their numbers will be back to normal within six months or higher because of the trending of their brand names. The average, uninvolved median voter and comfortable liberal will snuff a noise of amusement at the whole thing before firing up their Disney+ subscription to catch the latest round of Star Wars slop this fall.
Just because a company had deep pockets doesn’t mean they don’t care about losses. Being a publicly traded company does drive their behavior to some degree. It only 1 news report to make them lose investors.
Maybe, but maybe not. Consumers haven't forgiven Target even months after the fact, and their sales are still way down. People are pissed given everything going on now.
Target was already in a really tight spot, their prices are too high and their products too specialized for an economy teetering on free-fall, and they're not exactly offering the broad-appeal staple products like Walmart, which usually have locations literally across the street from Target.
Larger brands rarely budge and if they do, it's not exactly a lasting social impact. I maintain that you can do a lot more as an individual simply by spending less broadly. Companies only cave to public backlash when they're desperate, so we all need to do a lot more to make them desperate. Spend less on luxuries and entertainment, cut back or quit vices, learn to go without the latest games, movies and electronics and keep your money out of credit companies so they stop feeding off us. We built this monster, we need to starve it. (Also, again, the economy is close to collapse, good idea to start stuffing your mattresses.)
There is also alternatives to target.
There are alternatives to Disney too. 😄
Like what? Pretty much all of those are owned by the same people
I mean there are other sources of TV shows, both legal and otherwise.
Bullshit. Disney doesnt release that information. This is just some random on bluesky chatting shit for worthless internet points and some other desperate sad case repeating it for the same reason.
Disney has over 200k employees. Is it really that much of a stretch that one of them talked to a journalist? I'm not an accountant.. haven't ever talked to one that handles my workplace, but I still know how much money we're making and how much other branches of the same company are making and what the drama in the other places is and so so much more.. people talk... It's that's easy.
And even if it's a lie.. Is the 4B drop from disney also a lie? Is the fact that they promptly brought him back also a lie? The fact the first show after his return was watched by 3 times the normal amount of people? The number might be real or it might not, that's how journalists' sources work, but it's accurate that the boycott worked. Even if there were only 10k people, it still had a visible effect. That's what matters.
Don't resubscribe to any of the Disney related streaming services. Find your love in the high seas, mateys!
You know, I am starting to see why people are romanticising pirates. The lackadaisical attitude and freedom that pirates had, given the encroaching techno-fascism at the moment, is starting to become appealing; not that I condone the violence the pirates did.
Based.
I hate to be that guy but this whole thing has frustrated me deeply. It shows we’re willing to fight back and do know how, but our selective use of that power is rather superficial.
Yes, I understand this was very important in the realm of speech but it still has an overtone of celebrity culture. Most people can’t be bothered to boycott to end genocide or to protest legislation or support the courts or to advocate for worker rights or healthcare, but to save a celebrity that makes this nightmare easier for them to swallow every night? Sign everyone up!
It feels less about protecting free speech and fighting fascism and more about them protecting their humor drug that makes “the bad place” more palpable.
Americans know how to fight back they’re just unwilling to do it unless their TV personality who gives them feel good juice is on the milk carton. I know that’s harsh but it’s just frustrating watching everyone cry about how helpless they are until their feel good nightly placebo(s) was/are on the line.
Again, I get the importance and the way the target was clear etc. It’s just frustrating to watch people cry they don’t know what to do then step up big time for famous people but not their communities, neighbors or their own family’s wellbeing.
This is a huge win and I don’t mean to detract from that. Please keep boycotting and hopefully this drives it home to more people that this is an effective tactic across the board. I just needed to vent a little.
To show your support for free speech and protest US government's actions all they had to do (in this instance) was to unsubscribe from Disney+.
How do you protest for the ending of the Palestinian or Uyghur genocides? Who do you boycott? What do you unsubscribe from?
I think this is the answer. If I could log into my World.me account and cancel my Israel subscription they'd really be feeling the hurt.
Unfortunately for the world - our taxes don't get distributed that way.
BDS, for one.
There is a well established movement to determine exactly what you're asking for.
You have it backwards.
Protesting by showing support to a "rival idea" only works if the forces involved are near equal.
Protesting by showing lack of support almost never works (see: BLM).
Protesting by switching off the money flow works always.
I can't support Palestine by taking money away from Israel, because I am not giving money to Israel - my government is. The only way for me to stop paying taxes would be to stop earning money.
The protests against the sacking of Kimmel worked because they were in the form of an immediate money cut-off for Disney. Nothing similar exists in the case of "grown up issues", like the Uyghurs or Palestinians.
I think it actually shows we don't know how to fight back.
With Disney all they had to do was unsubscribe (or in some way contact Disney) to show their frustration.
How do I do that with ICE? How do I do that with Republicans (when all of my reps are Democrats).
Disney has a bottom line they worry about, but this administration doesn't care about my opinions or my wallet (look at the direction the economy is going). So even if I could directly tell them I'm not happy with things (and I do in some ways), they don't care.
A coordinated effort to withhold the tax revenue the state expects would probably do it. Unfortunately that'll land whomever participates a prison sentence.
I hear you, but cancelling 1/4 of your streaming services with the knowledge that can be reversed easily at any time is hardly the same as protesting or boycotting something tangible or an entire industry. I don't think this has anything to do with celebrity worship, and it has everything to do with how easy the protesting can be.
This protest could be done from home in three minutes, you don't suffer the consequences until the end of the month, and we all know less TV is better for us regardless of speech so there's very little downside.
I agree Americans aren't doing enough. I wish we were doing more.
People also arent directly paying Israel $20 a month or whatever, which can be cancelled at a whim. The most support that the average American sends to Israel is via US tax dollars. Good luck not paying your taxes just to send a message without ending up in prison, not to mention being unable to buy anything through typical means
Excellent points from you and the person you responded to. I’d still argue that a minimum effort - maximum effect action of canceling subscrptions is still a lot better than just ”hopes and prayers”.
As pompous as this may sound I do think subscription cancellation is an awesome protest tool that might, in best case scenario, affect Disney’s future business decisions. Maybe they won’t hire Alex Jones or make a musical animation about how great Hitler was if they’re afraid that their bottom line will be hit hard.
But yeah, we’re living in a timeline where Indiana Jones punching a nazi is a hate crime so the bar for things to be happy about is veeeeery low.
Sadly, most people are selfish and don't give a shit about horrors happening in another country on the other side of the world.
That's why, by the way, when news report on horrors, they state "173 dead people including 2 americans", even though it absolutely does not matter where piece of land the victims were born on.
And there’s why they “unfired” him.
Losing roughly a quarter of a billion per year in revenue makes them rethink things.
—— 9.99 per month for Disney basic 15.99 for Disney plus.
Just for easy math average those two so $12.99 per month.
$12.99 x 1,700,000 x 12 months = $264,996,000
And how many of those resubscribed, since Disney obviously learned their lessen.
Fuck Disney. If you didn't know who they were, you do now. Publicly traded companies care about one thing:
I cancelled after having the service for several years.
And then they jacked up the prices? Good luck with that shit, bozos.
A tyrant threatened a private business and a person was fired from that pressure. Over their comments about politicians making things too political.
I don't give a shit about Kimmel or Disney or some corporation's bottom line. These things are not important. They are ancillary details to the context of a dictator shutting down free speech.
This stuff is more like celebrity gossip... It's gossip related to a thing that matters.