Another Voice
Charter Member of The Element
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
- Messages
- 3,191
Something occurred to me while watching the Super Bowl (okay, I was there for the party but the TV was on).
Now for the last several years we have all heard about how wonderful the synergy of ABC is for the entire Disney company. That it was the perfect platform to market everything from theme parks to movies to the cruise line to, well, everything. And weve all seen a lot of it. Weve seen the bachelor take dates to California Adventure. Ebert and Roper host a movie cruise on the Disney Wonder. ESPN features seemingly hundreds of hours of cheerleading competition from WDW.
And now the Super Bowl. The single most watched event on television each and every year. Millions upon millions of eyeballs poised over nachos and beer all staring at the TV for hours on end.
And this year... Two teams: the Raiders with a their pirate logo, and the Buccaneers, with their pirate logo. And Disney with its most expensive live action movie ever, based on their favorite attraction located an hours drive from the game and in the home state of one of the teams. The stars of the film are shooting ninety minutes away. Sets from the movie are still standing and the attraction is nearby as well.
Yet they sold the title rights to another studio to hock their competing movie: Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. Some of the most valuable spots go to well publicized commercials for other giant summer movies The Hulk and The Matrix sequels. The only spot I can remember for a Disney movie was late, late in the game was the same The Recruit spot thats been running for more than a month now.
So that brings up an interesting question: Is the synergy of ABC real or it really just a convenience for the company?
Sure, tying the opening of the Super Bowl coverage to the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean and showing a hard-cutting trailer for the film would have cost Disney a couple million in revenue; but it would have created a tremendous buzz for their must-be-a-hit movie. Just check the Internet for all the hype surrounding Hulk, Matrix and Daredevil.
But it seems the level of synergy that Disney buys is along the lines of sticking the pre-pre-game for the Rose Bowl in front of California Adventures pond and the occasional special vacation episode of My Wife and Kids. Even something like the holiday parade that was syndicated was, as I understand it, actually shown during purchased time (i.e., the air time was bought like an infomercial).
Again does Disney really get its $25+ billion investment out of ABC and why do us stockholders continue to let the company tank the value of our stock because of it?
P.S. With production and marketing costs, Disney is likely to spend well over $200 million on 'Pirates'. After spending that kind of money on a movie they had better not simply just write it off as a lost cause.
P.S.S. For all of you who laugh at us out here, it was over 80 degrees from Los Angeles all the way down through San Diego. And it will be for at least the next week.
Now for the last several years we have all heard about how wonderful the synergy of ABC is for the entire Disney company. That it was the perfect platform to market everything from theme parks to movies to the cruise line to, well, everything. And weve all seen a lot of it. Weve seen the bachelor take dates to California Adventure. Ebert and Roper host a movie cruise on the Disney Wonder. ESPN features seemingly hundreds of hours of cheerleading competition from WDW.
And now the Super Bowl. The single most watched event on television each and every year. Millions upon millions of eyeballs poised over nachos and beer all staring at the TV for hours on end.
And this year... Two teams: the Raiders with a their pirate logo, and the Buccaneers, with their pirate logo. And Disney with its most expensive live action movie ever, based on their favorite attraction located an hours drive from the game and in the home state of one of the teams. The stars of the film are shooting ninety minutes away. Sets from the movie are still standing and the attraction is nearby as well.
Yet they sold the title rights to another studio to hock their competing movie: Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. Some of the most valuable spots go to well publicized commercials for other giant summer movies The Hulk and The Matrix sequels. The only spot I can remember for a Disney movie was late, late in the game was the same The Recruit spot thats been running for more than a month now.
So that brings up an interesting question: Is the synergy of ABC real or it really just a convenience for the company?
Sure, tying the opening of the Super Bowl coverage to the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean and showing a hard-cutting trailer for the film would have cost Disney a couple million in revenue; but it would have created a tremendous buzz for their must-be-a-hit movie. Just check the Internet for all the hype surrounding Hulk, Matrix and Daredevil.
But it seems the level of synergy that Disney buys is along the lines of sticking the pre-pre-game for the Rose Bowl in front of California Adventures pond and the occasional special vacation episode of My Wife and Kids. Even something like the holiday parade that was syndicated was, as I understand it, actually shown during purchased time (i.e., the air time was bought like an infomercial).
Again does Disney really get its $25+ billion investment out of ABC and why do us stockholders continue to let the company tank the value of our stock because of it?
P.S. With production and marketing costs, Disney is likely to spend well over $200 million on 'Pirates'. After spending that kind of money on a movie they had better not simply just write it off as a lost cause.
P.S.S. For all of you who laugh at us out here, it was over 80 degrees from Los Angeles all the way down through San Diego. And it will be for at least the next week.
