Here’s Why Disney And ABC Won’t Let Netflix Run Ads On Its Networks

The streaming wars have officially begun, even before Disney+ actually gets off the ground. With a plethora of forthcoming streaming services from NBC, Disney and others adding to the already lengthy list of streaming options from Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

Disney is serious about attracting subscribers to the service with a hefty lineup of Disney, Marvel and Star Wars properties, some of which are being taken from existing streaming services. That’s created some animosity between options fighting for streaming dollars from customers, and it also included some streaming services and where they can advertise.

According to the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by Vulture, Disney has changed its mind about letting other streaming services advertise on Disney+. The company had originally said no one was allowed to do so, but now it’s just one service that won’t make the cut: Netflix.

ABC Entertainment boss Karey Burke hinted at the move in August, when she told reporters gathered at the TV Critics Association press tour that network ad inventory was still valuable and off-limits to the Netflixes of the world. “Competing streamers want to advertise on our air — we just won’t let them,” Burke said.

But as the Wall Street Journal was first to report Friday, and Vulture has confirmed, Disney’s policy has evolved: Now, only Netflix is banned.

As Vulture’s Josef Adalian explains, the reason isn’t anything Netflix did but what it doesn’t do: run ads that Disney+ can use to advertise its own services.

A person familiar with Disney’s thinking says the reason Amazon, Apple, and other media companies with streaming platforms are still welcomed as advertisers is because those companies have other relationships with Disney, including ways for Disney to advertise with them. Apple, for example, sells advertising on its Apple News platform, while Amazon has a huge ad division. Netflix quite famously does not do advertising. As a result, Disney decided it no longer wanted to help Netflix in its bid to attract more subscribers and get its current subscribers to watch more Netflix.

Disney apparently does not extend this ban to ESPN, which will have its premium streaming service packaged with Disney+ later this year. But it is an interesting quirk in the growing streaming wars. There are always rumors that Netflix may finally relent and include ads, so this may change. But for now only Netflix is locked out of the ad pool.