In this What's On Disney Plus Podcast episode, Roger discusses some of today's biggest Disney+ news, including:
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I'm gonna be talking about Sofia the first sequel plus also a new series from FX plus How Disney Plus is doing here in the UK But before we go any further make sure you do hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest Disney Plus news Hi, it's Roger here farm. What's on at Disney Plus calm? It's time for quick Disney Plus news roundup Let's start off with talking about a brand new series coming soon to Disney Plus and Disney Junior Channel in 2026 called Sofia the first royal magic this brand new sequel series follows Sofia a younger who becomes a princess overnight When her mother Marius the king continuing her adventures as she attends the Charms Wales school for royal magic the Academy for princess and princesses To fare over their magical and royal education area winter who played Sofia in the original animated series And she's also probably most well known for a row in modern family will also be returning No, right yet on any other cast for this show looks like it's gonna be a big big deal I think when this one drops they are gonna be making a few little changes to the format Rather than having a long 22 minute episode at this time around it's gonna be broken up of two 11 minute episodes Sort of jump together. This is something that Disney's doing a lot more with their short series anyway because I think generally just attention spans are a little bit shorter And I think also they can just churn out more stories that way and I think it just seems to work better nowadays for them to do that Especially with the Disney Junior shows so again So you obviously can watch the first series of Sofia the first right now on Disney Plus But let me know in the comments below are you excited about the return of Sofia the first in the comments below of he your thoughts on this as well Shifting gears now to something extremely different. There's no talk about a brand new FX series called grotesque Which is coming out on the FX channel on September the 25th and it'll be available the next day on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus in the US It'll also be coming to Disney Plus internationally at a later date This brand new series the trailer was really kooky really weird extremely well shot kind of reminded me a little bit of like a Wrestling vignette that you might find for like the why at six or something anyway, but they look really creepy loads of likes Imagery and just symbolism and stuff. I mean the trailer didn't give too much away. Obviously just got a cop investigating some murders But it just looks really really really creepy and in some ways this almost feels like this could have been a season of American Horror story that maybe that might have been and they've just splunted it off into its own separate thing Very creepy very weird. I know my wife is probably definitely gonna be checking this one out. I'll probably be like I'll give it a go, but let me know you're excited about grotesque. I love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below Shifting gears now. Let's not talk about how Disney Plus is doing here in the UK Because we got some new data that's come out from the Barb who I'm give out all the official data from the government So this one here they've now revealed that I'm 7.6 million households here in the UK now have access to Disney Plus Which is about twenty six point one percent of all households This is actually slightly flat compared to the first quarter So this is based on the second quarter of the year so far Netflix however is now available in 17.1 million UK households, which is 58.6 percent and now this is actually up over a one and a half million Household since last quarter. That's huge Amazon Prime video is also up about half a million And they're now in 13.7 million homes But compared to some of the other streaming services here in the UK for example Apple TV is now in 2.4 million homes Paramount Plus at 2.8 Discovery Plus at 3.2 and now TV at 1.98 Generally there has been an increase in the amount of people signing up to streaming services But there is no doubt that with the cost of living crisis and everything going on and with price rises and all the rest of it Yeah, people are looking to try and cut costs and so therefore they're looking to get rid of streaming services But Netflix and Amazon definitely seem to be leading the way as the video on demand and once that this obviously doesn't include like BBC even though we do pay for it kind of comes under a different thing It's not technically a SBOD even though we do pay for it I don't know it's just how that works, but to Netflix is way way ahead in fact They're just growing and growing and growing and I mean they've recently changed their prices with the ad tiers and stuff It's pretty cheap now I Would have thought that Disney Plus would have been able to get it get more people signed up with the low cost price of $4.99 a month Oh, it doesn't seem to be working now I do think there are some things that Disney really need to do and this is very much not just For Disney Plus as a whole but just some of the things I think they need to do here in the UK to try and prove things First off better advertising I think they need to push that $4.99 price point as a selling point to get people in push some of the big shows that are on there And I also think they don't do a very good job of highlighting that some of the most popular shows that have been on like Sky or BBC things like Family Guy, Grey's and Attie when they return they need to really push them much more Obviously over the summer there's not been a lot of big shows like Star Wars or anything like that And that I mean we've only had what one Star Wars one Marvel this year neither of which kind of Did a lot of viewership so though that didn't help I mean the and obviously quarter to just the first or the second three months of the year I don't know. I think they just need to really kind of ramp up what they're doing I think there's some other things they need to do. I think it would be better at advertising what's coming up very much like Sometimes you just see stuff just checked in on the front page of Disney Plus and that's literally the only advertising and marketing they do So therefore they're never promoting it now They could do sometimes we get shows turn up and we don't even know they're turning up in advance and you know They don't put out a proper list anymore like in other countries where you get a full list of what's coming The UK doesn't do that half the time I let you have to just check in the morning to see what's new and then that's it I don't think it did a very good job that they don't highlight when new shows are coming new episodes people kind of don't know that Also, I think just in general, you know, Disney Plus here in the UK It's just gone for a bit of a dip, you know We saw with all the price cuts, you know changes in what they were doing and I don't know This doesn't seem to be a lot of campaigning going on. They're really trying to sort of again cut back to try and save money And trying to boost up how much profit they're making is impacting on how much they're advertising And I think that impacts them on how many new subscribers they can get the fact that they've still got Essentially 75% of the UK population still could get Disney Plus for their household There's a lot that they still sort of push that and I don't think they're doing that Maybe enough maybe do some more promotions 199 to 99 kind of things for the winter Just get people in get people using it and get people locked in so they get used to those tears get used to the shows But I do think they've got a Round pup with getting dain date releases with the US all this stuff of having shows, you know We've for example like things like grotesque, you know, we've got the new American sports store We've got old man all coming up and we'll be advertised now for September The UK hasn't done any advertising We don't know when they're coming and again That's three big shows that they're just not promoting in any which way on any of the socials or anything And this is all part of this problem and whether or not the UK needs to be treated separately from you from Europe You know if there's issues like with Dubbing and subtitles and stuff in France. Well, that shouldn't affect the UK We can understand Americans pretty well other than the other little word here in there So I think you know they need to treat maybe the UK slightly different to the rest of Europe because we are different You know, you know, we we understand Quite well, we're all right with that But yeah, I do think Disney Plus here in the UK really does have to kind of do a little bit more I think they've been resting on the laurels and just kind of just Churning through and I don't think they've really been kind of pushing what what they need to and I think more promotions Do you know do some stuff away from the traditional? You know just social media and stuff that I think they need to get out there Not necessarily just advertising like on ITV but on buses and supermarkets get the word out there at the price point Because I don't think they've done a great job. I really are pushing that as a selling point But I'd love to hear your thoughts on what Disney Plus could do I know there'll be some people asking about you know Like what they should put more legacy stuff on there put more things on and that's all part of it I mean, it's all this constant thing Disney Plus needs a major upgrade It needs some changes Hopefully like maybe with some sports that could help it But again, if they're not gonna promote it and they're just gonna slap it in there No one's gonna know about it and if they don't make any noise about it Most people aren't going to be aware of it And obviously well a lot of those sports are probably going to be US centric which aren't so popular here in the UK So that might not work either, but I don't know. I think they desperately need to do some kind of Just Some invigorating just to kind of get it going again It does feel a little bit flat Maybe also but lack of like big big shows and stuff. They've just not been really doing a lot Um, but again, let me know what you think of this in the comments below I mean, I question of the day which comes from our youtube channel member Dana He says so keep talking about blade with Wesley and snipes and the Deadpool and Wolverine movie Do you think they'll bring him back as blade instead of someone new? But I think this was very much a case of just you know a little bit of name recognition A little bit more of incorporating his whole multiverse thing and I think we are leading up to the fact of When we get to secret wars, they are going to wrap all of this up and he was just a nice little cameo And I don't think it necessarily means they want to bring him in I think you know, they're even like tongue in cheek played on the fact that you know, nobody else is going to play him, right? and Yeah, they played on that fact and I think they've been leaning in on just sorting out all the back history of marvel It's all it's they're all separate multiverses and then when we get to secret wars, everything is just going to get simplified But I'd love to know what you think of this. Do you think Wesley slipes will be continuing? I love to hear your thoughts on all this go check us out over at what's on at Disney plus calm Like follow and subscribe and I should see you guys soon later You You You You [ Silence ]
