Disney Seemingly Experimenting with New Distribution Strategy, Streams Show for Free

The Walt Disney Company is certainly getting creative and making some interesting decisions as they rechart their way through navigating the current predicament they find themselves in. Ever since Disney CEO Bob Iger came back to take the helm of the company, returning to his position after ousting his then-successor former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, it’s been apparent that the company is going through a significant shift and restructuring.

Not only has the Walt Disney Company gone through three rounds of some of the most massive layoffs we’ve seen in a long time, but they have also let go of and parted ways with some of the most senior executives in the company, including the ex Marvel Chairman, Isaac Perlmutter, and more recently, CFO Christine McCarthy and Chief Diversity Officer Latondra Newton.

The company has also been implementing new strategies in its creative process, and now it appears they’re also working on different distribution strategies.

Disney Plus’s American Born Chinese

On May 24, Disney debuted one of its newest shows based on the graphic novel of the same name by Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese on Disney Plus (stylized as Disney+). The show has been incredibly well received critically and, of course, has a star-studded crew featuring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Daniel Wu, and Ronny Chieng, alongside Ben Wang, Sydney Taylor, Jimmy Liu, and a larger cast.

Journalist Scott Gustin shared that Disney would be streaming episodes of the series for free on Roku, YouTube, and ABC over the next two weeks:

Disney will stream episodes of the Disney+ series 'American Born Chinese' for free on Roku, YouTube, and ABC over the next 2 weeks. The D+ series debuted on May 24 – but Disney wants to reach a wider audience during the special preview. Episode 1 is now free to stream on YouTube. pic.twitter.com/KVBO6EwuTj

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 21, 2023

The show has received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96% and an audience score of 84%; it’s also at a reasonably high 7.1 on IMDb. This is definitely one strategy Disney could employ to entice more consumers into becoming Disney Plus subscribers, and is quite representative of the Mouse House pulling out all the stops to begin making their streaming service actively profitable. In addition, Disney announced earlier this year that they would be combining Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ into one app, giving viewers an all-new experience.

But while Disney is working out its own strategy, you can watch the entire first episode of American Born Chinese below on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwQURuQlTc&ab_channel=DisneyPlus