Disney is looking to make its video streaming service profitable. This means ending features that make little or no money.
Disney announced: “from September 18, 2023, the GroupWatch function will no longer be available on Disney+. The feature was removed as part of recent updates.” The communication does not dwell on the reasons for this deletion. Is this feature too expensive to develop and maintain? Have subscribers abandoned this tool which, at peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2020, converted nearly 55 million users to Disney+ by allowing them to share moments of complicity remotely?
GroupWatch made it possible to watch movies, TV shows or other content from the streaming platform with your friends and family remotely, and synchronously on Disney+. Up to six people could join the creator of a GroupWatch. This tool was all the more successful becauseit was very easy to create a GroupWatch session by clicking on a prominent icon, right next to the play button.
Disney cuts its streaming service from its most user-friendly feature
During the collective viewing, it was possible to communicate with other members of the group through messaging on the smartphone, with a connected TV or on the Web. Noticing that they no longer had access to this much-loved feature, many Internet users expressed their frustration on the web and asked Disney to reverse its decision.
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In defense of Mickey’s house, it is true that times are hard. The Disney+ service is struggling to gain many more subscribers and in 2023, the time has come for sobriety for the leisure giant. The company laid off more than 7,000 employees at the start of the year, and it continues to make drastic cuts in its catalog. The Disney France press service has not yet responded to our request for clarification on the disappearance of GroupWatch in Disney+.