Disney Is Reportedly Working On An Amazon Prime Competitor For Fans

If you’re able to justify spending big bucks on Mickey Mouse ears and colorful balloons at Disneyland, Disney reckons you’ll be happy to sign up for an Amazon Prime-like subscription. It’s a lucrative world, after all.

The details for this venture are far from being firmed up, though the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports cites insiders that the Walt Disney Company has been studying Amazon Prime and Apple One—an all-in-one subscription entitling users to music, television shows, gaming, and cloud services—to dream up its own version for Disney fans.

The company has even purportedly nicknamed the project “Disney Prime”—an internal moniker that WSJ says won’t be used for the real program. Although the subscription is still in the “early stages,” sources say it could bundle discounts and third-party perks, like discounted tickets for Disney shows on Broadway, and enable Disney to better cross-sell and unify its products and services.

The membership will apparently be more casual than Disney’s D23 Official Fan Club, which is more for hardcore fans and warrants prices between US$99.99 and US$129.99 a year.

For now, subscription costs for the so-called “Disney Prime” have not been ironed out. Neither has Disney pinned down a potential launch date yet.

It seems, though, that Disney’s first offering from the Amazon Prime-like club may arrive as soon as this year. The company is looking at introducing a retail feature for its Disney+ streaming network, where users will be able to shop merchandise in line with television programs or movies through a QR code, which will lead them to the ShopDisney online storefront. To incentivize members, some of the merch might even be just for Disney+ subscribers.

WSJ’s sources reveal that Disney is working on the membership service in hopes to bump up more sales across streaming services, theme parks, resorts, and merchandise. At the same time, the entertainment conglomerate believes these integrated purchases will give it valuable data about how to reach out to individuals better.

According to the report, one example could be if a fan repeatedly rides the Star Wars attractions at Disney parks, Disney would know to recommend Star Wars titles on their Disney+ account since it would be tied to the all-encompassing “Disney Prime” account.

[via IGN and AV Club, cover photo 15614573 © Nicoleta Raluca Tudor | Dreamstime.com]