A new entity will combine all of the Walt Disney Co.’s digital brands under one roof, the company announced at its NewFront presentation this week.
Dubbed the Disney Digital Network, this umbrella will cover editorial brands like parent-targeted Babble, gamer outlet Polaris, and fandom destination Oh My Disney, as well as more than 300 character-focused social media channels, the multi-channel Maker Studios creator network, and banded content division Disney Co/Op.
These brands add up to 1 billion total followers for DDN.
A raft of new digital programming covering all corners of DDN’s target audiences and brands was announced, including one animated series: action-comedy COIN, coming to Polaris. The show features a game-inspired look and follows a team of misfit heroes out to save their world — time-traveling robot Crohnobot, hot-headed plumber Donovan, weapons master Kid Victory, and twin illusionists the Sisters Vicious. Together, the set out to defeat super-villain Gamovah and retrieve the coin of Chorder before it’s too late.
Also on the slate are Science and Star Wars presented by IBM (Facebook exclusive); OhMy Disney Show season 2; Club Mickey Mouse presented by HP (FB exclusive); Disney IRL; Disney Design Challenge; and Disney Magical Starts.
At the presentation, Disney’s Executive Vice President Andrew Sugarman also discussed the decision to pare down the Maker network, which he says will help assure advertisers that their brands are not being tied to objectionable content. Maker became a part of Disney’s Consumer Products & Interactive Media division at the end of last year, and has since been streamlined to fewer than 1,000 contributing influencers.
