In an effort to increase user engagement, Walt Disney Co. will introduce vertical videos to its Disney+ app next year, a company executive said Wednesday.
The move is part of the Burbank media and entertainment company's efforts to encourage more app use, especially on smartphones.
“We know that mobile is an incredible opportunity to make Disney+ a true daily destination for fans,” said Erin Teague, executive vice president of product management, during a presentation in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. “All the short-form Disney content you need, all in one single app.”
Teague said the company will develop this capability over time to define new formats, categories and types of content.
Disney's presentation also touched on interest in artificial intelligence. Last month, San Francisco startup OpenAI said it reached a licensing agreement with Disney use the company's 200+ popular characters in its text-to-video tool Sora. Under the deal, users will be able to write prompts that will generate short videos featuring Disney characters and use ChatGPT images to create those characters' faces. Some of these Sora-produced videos will air on Disney+, although the companies said the deal did not include the talent's images or voices.
Disney also said it would invest $1 billion in the artificial intelligence company.
Teague said part of Disney's move toward artificial intelligence is to appeal to younger Generation Alpha viewers who are more comfortable with artificial intelligence and “expect to interact with entertainment” rather than just watch stories on a screen.
“AI is an accelerator,” she said. “That's why collaborating with partners like OpenAI is critical. We want to empower a new generation of fandom that is more interactive and immersive, while respecting human creativity and protecting user safety.”
