The Walt Disney Company Reportedly Considering Amazon Prime-Style Membership Program

Matthew Soberman

The Walt Disney Company Reportedly Considering Amazon Prime-Style Membership Program

The Walt Disney Company is considering establishing a membership program similar to Amazon Prime, according to The Wall Street Journal‘s Jessica Toonkel and Sarah Krouse.

Toonkel and Krouse report that the program could possibly offer guests discounts and perks on things like Disney+ subscriptions, theme park tickets, and merchandise for a monthly or annual membership fee. Insiders claim that it’s still early on in discussions, with no timeframe for when this could be established.

Kristina Schake, Disney’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, confirmed that the company is considering the option in a statement, saying:

Technology is 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. A membership program is just one of the exciting ideas that is being explored.

The program has an advocate in Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who has worked to get Disney to cross-sell across its various platforms. This would create more value for customers, while in return, Disney would get more information about their individual preferences.

Currently, Disney does offer a membership program in D23, though Disney has stated this new venture would cater more to casual Disney fans.

To this end, The Wall Street Journal claims Disney is also working on a retail component to add to Disney+ itself, aiming to sell shirts, themed accessories and children’s costumes associated shows on the service among other things through shopDisney exclusively for subscribers. This feature is likely to be introduced before the end of 2022.

Streaming service saturation continues to increase, leading other services to explore additional revenue streams to both differentiate themselves and also keep profits growing.

With Disney’s diversified portfolio, a membership service like Amazon Prime could allow Disney to harness various points of data about customer interest to make recommendations for new products, shows, etc. The original article cites an example where fans of “Star Wars” attractions could be recommended shows and merchandise based on their experiences at a Disney theme park.

No prospective launch date was shared for this new membership program, stay tuned to WDW News Today for the latest.

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5 thoughts on “The Walt Disney Company Reportedly Considering Amazon Prime-Style Membership Program”

  1. I’m not a fan of Chapek at all, but to me this does makes sense. If this turned out to be a truly “all-inclusive” (but optional) membership I think I’d be in!

    Amazon does it as this article says, Apple also does this with their services (Apple Music + iCloud + Fitness…etc.), Discovery Networks(now managing Warner, HBO, CNN and all) and so many others.

    Chapek is horrible at running the parks for sure, but I cannot fault him for this as this is what e-commerce, streaming, and even tourism is coming to.

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