Five Ways Disney+ Could Increase Engagement by Improving the Subscriber Experience

As the streaming wars continue to evolve, I have become increasingly frustrated by how slowly Disney seems to address some of the basic issues with its streaming experience. Disney has an extraordinary collection of movies, television shows, sports, and news, but finding and following that programming can still require more effort than it should. Having something worth watching is only part of the equation. Subscribers also need to know it exists and be able to enjoy it easily.

With so much attention focused on engagement, Disney should consider how its interface helps, or hinders, the people already paying for its services. A new series might get me to subscribe, but the everyday experience helps determine how often I return. Here are five improvements that would make Disney’s streaming offerings more useful to me while giving me more reasons to keep watching.

Allow Subscribers to Opt In to Breaking News Alerts

Disney has an opportunity to make ABC News Live a more useful part of the Disney+ experience by allowing subscribers to opt in to breaking news alerts. If ABC News is covering a major developing story, a notification could give me a reason to open an app that I otherwise might not have planned to use that day. Once I am there, I may also discover something else I want to watch.

The important part is giving subscribers control. Plenty of people turn to Disney+ for an escape, and they should be able to enjoy that experience without receiving news alerts. Those who are interested should be able to choose them, with clear settings and restraint about what qualifies as breaking news. The value would quickly disappear if every developing story became another interruption.

For interested subscribers, however, an alert that opens directly into the relevant live coverage would connect an immediate need with something Disney already offers. ABC News Live becomes more valuable when viewers remember it is there at the moment they want it.

Bring Multiview Across Disney’s Streaming Experience

ESPN already offers multiview, allowing viewers to follow multiple live events on one screen. I would like Disney to extend that idea across its broader streaming experience, with the flexibility to combine the programming available through a subscriber’s plan.

Maybe I want to watch a game while keeping an eye on a breaking news story. Perhaps an NHL matchup overlaps with Dancing with the Stars, and I would like to follow both without constantly switching between them. Let me choose which feed supplies the audio, easily enlarge the program that has my attention, and move between them without losing my place.

There are certainly rights, device, and technical considerations involved, but the benefit for the subscriber is easy to understand. As Disney brings more types of programming into the same streaming experience, it should also provide better ways to enjoy them together.

There is an engagement argument here as well. When one event ends, I may already be invested in the other program on my screen. Disney would be giving me a natural reason to stay by accommodating how I want to watch.

Stop Recommending Things I Have Already Seen

I love revisiting Disney favorites, but familiarity should not dominate discovery. If Disney+ knows I have watched a movie, that information should help it make a more useful recommendation than simply sending me back to the same title or its remake.

Watch the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and you may be pointed toward the animated film. Watch the animated classic, and the live-action version becomes the suggestion. Both are reasonable recommendations for someone who has only seen one, but once I have watched both, I would appreciate an exit from the Beauty and the Beast loop.

My viewing history should give Disney a starting point for introducing me to something else. Was it the music, the animation, the romance, or the fantasy that appealed to me? There are plenty of directions a recommendation could take, and a useful discovery system would help me explore them.

Rewatching still deserves a place in the interface and that is why there is a “Watch Again” section. Meanwhile, recommendations could devote more attention to titles I have not watched, including older programming that is new to me.

Make "Continue Watching" Actually Help Me Continue Watching

Of all these suggestions, this is the one that feels most fundamental. If I have watched every available episode of a series, the service should make it obvious when there is something new. I have already demonstrated an interest in the show. Disney should not need to sell me on it all over again.

Yet that connection does not always seem to happen. I was caught up on Kiff, but I might have missed its new Halloween special entirely if I had not seen Tony’s recap. I also watched the previous season of Scrubs, so when the new season began, why wasn’t its return surfacing prominently for me?

Whether Disney accomplishes this through Continue Watching or a clearly labeled “New Episodes of Shows You Watch” section matters less than making it reliable. A completed season should not become a dead end in the relationship between a viewer and a series. When new episodes arrive, the app should reconnect us.

I wonder how often an apparent loss of interest between seasons is actually a failure to let people know that a show has returned. Viewers have plenty competing for their attention, and release schedules can be difficult to follow. A streaming service should help manage that complexity rather than expect subscribers to remember every premiere date themselves.

This also requires accurate viewing progress. The app should consistently recognize what I have finished, take me to the next unwatched episode, and distinguish a new installment from something I abandoned halfway through. Continue Watching occupies valuable space on the home screen. It should earn that space by being dependable.

Give Me a Clear Daily Programming Guide

One of the easiest ways to encourage me to open Disney+ every day would be to give me a dependable answer to a simple question. What is new today?

Even with the guides we publish at Laughing Place, I would appreciate being able to find that answer inside the app itself. In my experience, the newly added section does not consistently provide a complete, chronological view of what has arrived. A collection of promotional tiles can help highlight selected releases, but it does not serve the same purpose as a schedule.

I want a straightforward calendar that brings together movies, new series, returning episodes, sports, and live events. Let me look at today, tomorrow, or the week ahead. Show start times in my time zone, make subscription requirements clear, and let me add something to my watchlist or request a reminder directly from the listing.

Disney already publishes dated release schedules outside the app. Bringing that information into the viewing experience would make it useful at the point where subscribers are deciding what to watch. It would also help distinguish a newly added library title from a new episode or an event that needs to be watched at a particular time.

That could create a daily habit with a clear purpose. I might open Disney+ to check tonight’s schedule and discover that a favorite series has returned or that a live event interests me. The app would give me a reason to visit even when I had not arrived with a specific title in mind.

These suggestions share a common idea. Disney could get more value from the programming it already has by making it easier for subscribers to find, follow, and watch it. Each improvement addresses a moment when an interested viewer can lose track of a show, miss an event, or give up on finding something appealing.

Disney has spent decades building relationships between audiences and its stories. Its streaming interface should help sustain those relationships, whether that means reconnecting me with a returning series or introducing me to a film I have never seen. When the company talks about engagement, I hope it gives equal attention to the experience that makes people want to engage.

I already want to watch what Disney offers. I would just like the app to do a better job helping me.