Disney’s CEO: Content need not be free
July 29, 2009
Disney CEO Robert Iger has said “People are willing to pay for quality. They are willing to pay for choice. They are willing to pay for convenience.”
He noted that people still pay $5 an hour to go to the movies, 75 cents an hour to read books and magazines, 50 cents an hour to watch cable, but just 25 cents an hour to use the Internet, in terms of the amount they pay their Internet service provider. “There’s plenty of room for people to spend more money on for things they are doing online,” Iger said. “I think it is wrong to assume that because there is a lot on the Internet that is free that it is going to be impossible to monetise content."
Iger acknowledged that the company still makes far less online than it does from traditional broadcast means. “We’re not monetising as much as we do in our traditional business,” he said. “It’s very early in the timeline. I think there is going to be ample opportunity to improve monetisation from advertising online.”