Disney explores user-generated content to increase engagement : NPR

During an earnings conference call on November 13, Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted at working with AI companies to create user-generated content on Disney+ to increase subscriber engagement. Above, a visitor to Disneyland Paris in 2023.

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Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images

Fans tired of waiting for the sequel Frozen sequel or the next chapter of Star Wars The saga may soon have new ways to engage with these worlds – creating its own content using Disney intellectual property.

That’s the tantalizing hint that Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped during an earnings call Thursday, as he described how the company is exploring ways to make the Disney+ subscription streaming service more interactive and customizable for users.

Although Iger didn’t make an official announcement, he suggested that Disney was in discussions with artificial intelligence companies about tools that could allow subscribers to generate and share their own content built from Disney-owned stories.

“AI is going to give us the ability to offer Disney+ users a much more engaged experience, including the ability to create user-generated content,” Iger said.

Disney+ declined to provide additional details on what form these new creative tools might take or which technology companies are involved in the negotiations. Meanwhile, AI remains a concern in many sectors of the entertainment industry, with many companies, including Disney, having filed lawsuits against AI players for copyright infringement.

Bob Iger, CEO of Disney.

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Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Iger recognized this tension. During the earnings call, the CEO said the company’s conversations with potential AI partners were focused on creating new forms of fan engagement. And protect against uses that could dilute or misuse Disney intellectual property.

“It’s obviously imperative for us to protect our intellectual property with this new technology,” Iger said.

The trend towards increased interactivity

Disney is not alone in attempting to rethink the boundaries between audiences and the entertainment they consume.

At the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Netflix Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone offered her own look at a future shaped by deeper user engagement.

“The future of entertainment is probably going to be even more personalized, even more interactive, even more immersive,” Stone said in an onstage conversation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos.

In addition to games and social media videos, one of Netflix’s most high-profile experiments in this direction will arrive next year: Stone told viewers of the classic talent competition Star search reboot will be able to vote directly from their television or phone, influencing which candidates advance – or not.

Younger audiences and deal-making climate fuel quest for interactivity

This layer of engagement adds to Netflix’s vast library of movies and TV series. But platform executives increasingly view passive surveillance as only part of the picture.

Younger audiences, particularly Gen Z, are turning to spaces where they can participate, remix and respond rather than just watch. According to Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends survey, more than half of Gen Z respondents say social media content is more relevant to them than traditional TV shows and movies. The study also highlights the growing popularity of independent creators and a shift in consumers’ expectations for quality: Content doesn’t always need polish to be hugely popular, as some of the most-watched streams on YouTube and TikTok prove.

At the same time, despite ongoing litigation, entertainment companies are starting to feel comfortable with the idea of ​​licensing content to AI companies. One of the most high-profile in recent weeks is the licensing partnership between Universal Music Group and music creation platform AI Udio.

“It shows that AI companies can work with the creative community to come up with models that work for both,” Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, told NPR about this particular deal. “And I think we’re going to start seeing more and more deals get done because they realize they can do it and do it the right way.”