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Part Three: Disney
Netflix might have pioneered the Asian expansion strategy , but that doesn’t mean other entertainment giants aren’t looking to replicate their success. And entertainment giants don’t get much bigger than The Walt Disney Company.
The House of Mouse clearly took notice when Netflix’s Squid Game shattered viewership records, confirming the wisdom of the company’s investment in Asian-originating entertainment. A mere month after the socioeconomic-themed thriller became an international sensation following its Netflix premiere on Sept. 17, 2021, CNN reported Disney’s own investment plans for the APAC region, greenlighting more than 50 original titles to be produced by 2023. Disney doubled down in the investment in 2023, rolling out 20 new series and films in the latter half of the year.
“Today, we are making another commitment by combining the global resources of the company with the best content creators from Asia Pacific to develop and produce original stories on Disney+,” said Luke Kang, president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, in a press release. “With over-the-top services going mainstream, emergence of world-class content from Asia Pacific and rising consumer sophistication, we believe that this is the right time for us to deepen our collaboration with the region’s best content creators to deliver unparalleled storytelling to global audiences.”
In their production announcements, Disney signaled a commitment to working with local artists and producing entertainment with regional sensibilities and values. But if the megacorporation aims to achieve its desired impact with its international entertainment, localization experts’ professional experience will go a long way to saving catastrophic errors and missteps. It’s a lesson the corporation learned to its cost following the international release of the 2020 live-action Mulan remake, when a film intended to pave in-roads in the APAC region instead produced headline-generating controversies.
So what is Disney doing to ensure it doesn’t make the same mistake twice in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming space? Well, in 2022, it formed an international content group under the direction of Chairperson of International Content and Operations Rebecca Campbell.
“Great content is what drives the success of our streaming services, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work even more closely with the talented creators in our international markets who are producing new stories with local relevance to delight our audiences around the globe,” Campbell said in a press release.
The international content group is designed to coordinate and amplify Disney’s localized content strategy, overseeing teams in Asia Pacific, India, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. And given Disney’s investment in TV and movies for the APAC region alone, they certainly have their work cut out for them.
“We’ve rolled [our Asian production effort] out in APAC starting from Australia and New Zealand to markets in Southeast Asia and are now turning to Northeast Asia,” Kang told Variety. “As part of that, we know that local language content is a critical component in making sure that we are connecting with the consumer, not just in home markets, but also regionally.”
Kang expresses in no uncertain terms Disney’s interest in the APAC region — particularly its projected growth over the coming years.
“I can’t share numbers,” Kang said in the Variety interview. “But our ambitions in the region are very significant. We know that the Asia Pacific region is relay primed for tremendous growth. We want to position ourselves well to ride that wave of growth. We are a company with vast resources.”
Kang told Variety that to set itself apart, Disney’s aim isn’t to throw shows and movies at the wall and see what sticks. Rather, they want to create an emotional impact, winning hearts and minds organically (coincidentally, another dynamic that localization professionals are skilled in capturing).
If nothing else, Disney understands the mistakes it made in its approach to APAC localization. As Kang told Variety, the company is committed to learning from its errors while building upon its successes.
“We are a major player [in mainland China]. We have a very long-term view on relationships,” he said. “Over the last ten years in China, not everything was successful. But in aggregate, no one cannot argue with our overall success as a company in China. Going forward, we are very optimistic. Short term challenges will eventually iron themselves out.”
The good news? Those unsuccessful efforts are mistakes other companies — in the entertainment industry or otherwise — need not replicate by partnering with qualified localization professionals.
Cameron Rasmussen
