Why Disney+ Owns Kids Viewing

Leaders from the world’s largest companies, equity research firms, hedge funds, and the Federal Reserve rely on Morning Consult’s 30,000 daily survey interviews in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands, economic indicators, and risk metrics. Schedule a demo to access the always-on consumer signal.

Category Advantage measures the drivers of brand strength by capturing both mental availability (likelihood a brand comes to mind) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with a brand) among all competitors. Schedule a private briefing on this research. .

The bottom line up front  

Disney+ is the category’s most intentionally chosen service—and one of the least default. After controlling for brand size, Disney+ shows overwhelming Mental Advantage in kids and family viewing (+45) and meaningful strength in nostalgic re-watching (+4). Outside of those moments, Disney+ is structurally weak. It does not win on casual discovery, settling, bingeing, or live utility moments. Disney+ grows by owning fewer entry points more deeply, not by expanding across the category. Its strength is clarity of purpose. Its risk is misplaced breadth ambition.

Disney+’s Role in the Category Today

• Disney+ functions as a purpose-led destination, not a background service. Viewers come to Disney+ when the audience is defined (kids/family), the emotional need is known (comfort, nostalgia, trust), and the content universe is pre-selected.
• Disney+ is not where people go to “see what’s on.” It is where people go when they already know why they’re watching. That makes it powerful—and narrow by design.
• The data confirms this positioning: Disney+ has exactly two true Mental Advantage moments—kids (+45) and nostalgia (+4). Everything else is neutral or negative.

Where Disney+ Wins Mentally

1. Entertaining the kids (category ownership)

Disney+ shows a massive Mental Advantage (+45) on entertaining the kids. No other brand is even close—Netflix (−3), Max (−7), Hulu (−4), and Prime (−7) all show negatives. This is not leadership; it is ownership. Kids’ viewing is highly repetitive, habit-forming, and subscription-protective. Disney+ is not interchangeable here. In household decision-making, this is Disney+’s moat.

2. Re-watching nostalgic classics

Disney+ shows strong Mental Advantage (+4) on re-watching nostalgic classics—leading all competitors (Netflix +1, Max 0, Hulu 0). This reflects franchise familiarity, emotional safety, and intergenerational appeal. Nostalgia stabilizes usage even when new content slows. It reinforces Disney+ as a “safe return” service rather than a discovery engine.

Disney+ Mental Advantage: Two Wins, Many Gaps

Where Disney+ Participates—But Does Not Differentiate

What's blocking conversion

1. Live and event-driven viewing

Disney+ underperforms on watching live sports (−10), watching live NFL football (−10), and streaming live MLB games (−8). Even within the Disney ecosystem, Disney+ itself is not mentally retrieved for live viewing. Sports lives elsewhere in the Disney portfolio (ESPN+)—but not in Disney+’s mental map.

 2. Everyday, low-effort entertainment

 Disney+ under-indexes on unwinding after a long day (0/neutral-to-weak), streaming as background while doing chores (−4), and catching morning news shows (−9). Disney+ is not a “settle-in” or “TV is on” service. It requires intent. Viewers don’t drift into Disney+; they choose it for a reason.

3. Utility and value-led moments

Disney+ underperforms on cutting cable to save money (−2) and switching to free ad-supported streaming (−3). Disney+ is not mentally coded as value, replacement, or flexibility-led.\\

Why Disney+ Is Resilient but Narrow

Why This Matters Now

• As households rationalize subscriptions, non-substitutable roles are safest. Disney+ has one of the clearest non-substitutable roles in the category. The +45 Mental Advantage on kids’ entertainment is not just leadership—it’s subscription insurance.
• But attempts to broaden Disney+ into casual entertainment risk weakening its strongest advantage without gaining new ones. The category already has default services. Disney+ is not one of them—and shouldn’t try to become one.

Five strategic implications for streaming services

1. Defend kids and family ownership at all costs. This is the business. Everything else is secondary. The +45 Mental Advantage gap is Disney+’s moat—protect it relentlessly.

2. Lean into nostalgia and trust, not novelty arms races. Disney+ does not need to win “what’s new.” Its library is the asset. New releases are complements, not the core value proposition. 

3. Avoid positioning as a default entertainment service. That territory is already owned by Netflix—and Disney+ is structurally disadvantaged there. Chasing breadth dilutes clarity without gaining consideration.

4. Use bundles to complement, not redefine, Disney+’s role. Disney+ should anchor the family moment inside bundles (with Hulu, ESPN+), not carry the whole load. Let other services handle general entertainment.

Core Insight: Disney+ wins when the viewing moment is intentional, emotional, and family-led—not when it’s casual or undecided. That is a narrow role, but in a fragmenting category where clarity of purpose is rare, it is also one of the most defensible.

About this research

Morning Consult conducts over 30,000 daily proprietary surveys in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands and 50 economic indicators. 

Our category advantage research is aimed at understanding the needs driving consumers in your category — and how your brand can own more of them. This research is built on validated principles of brand-driven growth and powered by Morning Consult’s industry-leading sampling technology.

Measure the true drivers of brand strength

Capture both mental availability (the likelihood your brand comes to mind when consumers face a need or occasion) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with your brand), benchmarked against competitors.

Uncover Category Entry Points (CEPs)

Directly tied to mental availability, see the specific needs, occasions, and triggers that drive purchase decisions in your category, and how strongly your brand is linked to them.

Pinpoint growth opportunities

Direct investment toward the moments and consumer segments with the greatest potential to grow your brand.

Turn insights into action fast

Get survey results in 4–5 days through a centralized dashboard and short-form memo that equips stakeholders with clear direction on where and how to win.

Learn more