With MultiChoice and The Walt Disney Company massively expanding their relationship in Africa beyond the almost 5 year old The Disney Channel (DStv 303) on DStv with the new double-addition of the Disney XD (DStv 304) and Disney Junior (DStv 309) channels, I spoke exclusively to Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content about the Disney expansion.
TV with Thinus asked Aletta Alberts about the pay TV platform's relationship with Disney, the Disney Channel's performance the past 5 years, the importance of the youth channel genre in general to MultiChoice and why these channels have been added now.
Aletta, how would you describe the growing relationship between MultiChoice and Disney from a content perspective?
Aletta Alberts: From MultiChoice's side we think it's a great relationship. If you say yes to anything from The Walt Disney brand, you know you're going to get great quality channels, but more so its really important for us to be very consumer-centric. We know that if a channel like Disney XD or Disney Junior comes from Disney, that they've done their homework. They know their content, they know their brand inside out. Things that are kind of arbitrary for you and me like the funny pop-up jokes within a TV show – all those kind of things are all exactly planned and researched. They know what audiences, where, will get and laugh at that joke. They're completely tapped into that specific demographic that they produce content for.
When you joined MultiChoice I was at the launch of The Disney Channel exactly five years ago - which, at the time, I believe was one of your first channel acquisition deals for DStv that you've worked on. How has The Disney Channel performed for MultiChoice this past half a decade on the DStv platform?
Yes! It's five years later! It's almost like a full circle. The Disney Channel (DStv 303) has performed fantastically well. The Disney Channel is our number one kids channel. But it doesn't only do well for children, The Disney Channel also does well for the whole family. We're very pleased with the channel's performance.
MultiChoice added KidsCo recently, now Disney XD, as well as Disney Junior to DStv and there's already a large number of kids channels on DStv. For me it shows – and maybe you can place it in better context – that MultiChoice in terms of its total youth bouquet of channels, places a very high priority and a very big importance on youth and kids channels as a subscriber driver. What role does the youth channels play? Why this big emphasis?
Youth channels – like the Disney channels – are incredibly important. It's all about the old nagging factor – kids asking their parents to please get it because they want to watch it. Very often we will get feedback from subscribers who will say: ''Thank you so much, you've saved my life. My kids are crazy about The Disney Channel'' for instance, or any of the other kids channels. Obviously all the kids channels speak to slightly different audiences, but they're all very important to us, you're right.
In terms of the timing and adding these specific channels now, can you talk about why exactly now?
We're halfway through the year, so it’s a good time for us to start revving up towards the end of the year with what we're still planning. It's also just before the July school holidays, so it's incredible timeous for us to make this available to our subscribers. With Disney XD I also have to say, if I had one more boy, or a boy's father or a boy's mother contacting me and writing to me and asking ''When is Disney XD coming?'' I think I just wouldn't have lasted [she laughs] much longer with that pressure!
And lastly, why is the channel [Disney XD but also Disney Junior] also being made available on the DStv Compact bouquet while The Disney Channel is just on DStv Premium?
I think because the DStv Compact bouquet is a very popular bouquet and we feel that as we add channels to DStv Premium we also have to add channels to DStv Compact on the lower bouquet as well. DStv Compact [subscribers] are absolutely as important to us as DStv Premium and they haven't had access to Disney before. It's not as if it's a ''lower bouquet'' that's less important. We looked very carefully at the target market, they love the content and we absolutely know that this content resonates with the consumers who will watch and enjoy it. Furthermore it's absolutely the right brand to make available to more subscribers.
