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(upbeat music)

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- It's a streaming kind
of episode this week

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as Disney hits the stage
and Quibi hits the skids.

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I'm Jeff Beer and this is Fast Company's

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Brand Hit & Miss of the Week.

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The hit this week goes to
Disney+ for reading the room

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and announcing an earlier streaming launch

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for "Hamilton" the movie.

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I think we can all agree

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that all parents were
thanking the streaming gods

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that Disney+ launched
"Frozen II" in March,

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three months earlier than planned.

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Now, the company's giving
itself another brand win

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by announcing that the filmed version

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of the "Hamilton" stage show
will hit streaming on July 3rd,

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three months earlier

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than the original October
15th release date.

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Disney honcho, Bob Iger tweeted,

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"In this very difficult time,

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"this story of leadership,
tenacity, hope, love,

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"and the power of people
to unite against adversity,

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"is both relevant and inspiring."

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It'll also give potential customers

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another reason to sign up,
which Disney+ hasn't had

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since it launched back in
November with "The Mandalorian."

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Face it, there's only so many times

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you can market yourself on old classics.

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"Hamilton" won the 2016
Pulitzer Prize for Drama

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and 11 Tony Awards.

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It grossed $650 million on Broadway,

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is adored by millions of fans

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and became a bona fide
cultural phenomenon.

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This is both an ambitious experiment

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to see if a Broadway blockbuster

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can translate to the
screen still in stage form,

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but also, if that could
become a streaming hit.

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Obviously, those are yet to be answered

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but as a brand move,
it's a well-timed boost.

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The miss this week goes to Quibi.

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The new short-form streaming
platform launched on April 6th

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but its target market of making
content for commuting users

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doesn't really jive with
our new stay-at-home reality

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and the numbers, so far, reflect that.

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So far, the app has been installed

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by between 2.9 million
and 3.5 million people,

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depending on who you ask,

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with about 1.3 million active users.

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This isn't exactly gangbusters

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for a startup that raised $1.8 billion

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and then went on a content spending spree,

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recruiting names like Jennifer
Lopez, Chrissy Teigen,

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LeBron James, Steven Spielberg,

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oh, and don't forget the Superbowl ad.

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What lands Quibi on the miss
list this week, however,

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is how co-founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg,

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seems to be putting all the blame

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for the platform's problems
so far on the pandemic.

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In a New York Times story,

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the former head of Disney
Studios and Dreamworks said,

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"I attribute everything that
has gone wrong to coronavirus.

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"Everything.

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"But we own it."

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Do you, though?

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Or maybe, just maybe, it's
the inherent challenge

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of introducing a whole new
streaming brand, and cost,

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to an already crowded marketplace.

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Obviously, this one interview
is not a fatal brand blow,

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but what it does do is
further drive the narrative

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of Quibi as a hubristic exercise,

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as much as it already owned that label,

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for banking on a strategy
that essentially says

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let's spend our way to
entertainment success.

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That's it for this week.

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Let us know your brand hit and miss picks.

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(upbeat music)

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(water rushes)