Disney clicks on iTunes

The big digital news is how well Disney did in its first week of offering movies on iTunes - 125,000 downloads worth $1 million in revenue. The company expects revenue of $50 million in the first year of the iTunes partnership. That's nice new money, but the real story could be over at Disney.com, which is in the process of being overhauled for a relaunch next year. That's where the company could center its entire online distribution network, rather than selling movies and TV shows on other platforms, such as Amazon or Google. "The customer's going to be there anyway — why cede it to, in effect, other content generators? Why not be there ourselves?" Iger said. As noted by paidcontent.org:

Disney has collected 58 million names of people with recent consumer relationships with the company. Disney.com, when it relaunches in early ‘07, will create a customized point of entry so the experience matches the age and interests from pre-school up. Development is already underway for the same content in Europe and Asia.