Disney Seeks Digital Magic – US-FOREX.US
Walt Disney hopes to show its movies overcame the weak economy and waning ad market during its fiscal third quarter, but Wall Street is more interested in its ideas about how to monetize the Internet.
Disney
‘s market value has risen 14.1% since the beginning of the year. The Street expects the media conglomerate’s quarterly earnings will reach 51 cents per share, below the 62 cents recorded in last year’s corresponding period. Disney’s report on Thursday will follow fellow conglomerate Time Warner
, which announced on Wednesday that, despite a falling ad market, it topped expectations thanks to its cable networks, and the success of the buddy-wedding comedy The Hangover.Disney, whose businesses include film, television, parks and resorts, as well as consumer products, is counting on a similar success. Basic earnings forecasts aside, investors will be anxious to learn more about the company’s plans to navigate an uncertain future in the digital world. Disney, led by Chief Executive Robert Iger, is working to be on the forefront of monetizing the Web. So far, it’s only left media companies-notably newsrooms-with eroding sales and unfulfilled promises. Iger expects that will change as the industry abandons the “free” model and begins using numerous methods to monetize content. Citing Disney’s own experience with making movies and television programming available on the Internet, he recently said there is significant room for charging fees. Among other things, he estimated that consumers would pay 5 per hour to see a movie playing in theaters, 75 cents to read a book or magazine, 50 cents per hour for cable content, and 25 cents per hour for Internet content.Iger also said ads will quickly become more sophisticated as companies begin following individual preferences and selling that information to advertisers. Disney also recently embarked on a new collaboration with Taiwanese manufacturer Asus to make the computer maker’s lightweight, pared-down laptops even more kid-friendly.