Ayo Davis Talks Disney Strategy

Ayo Davis, the president of Disney Branded Television, told TV Kids Summer Festival viewers about what’s guiding her teams’ approaches to delivering content across the company’s linear and streaming assets for kids.

Davis leads all operations for Disney Branded Television, the unit of Disney Entertainment that produces content for kids, tweens, teens and families for Disney+, Disney Channel and Disney Junior. She participated in a keynote conversation with TV Kids‘ Anna Carugati that you can watch here.

“We have this huge slate that helps serve a global audience from preschoolers through adulthood,” Davis said. “All these shows are filled with signature Disney qualities of magic and wonder, adventure and heart, with heroic characters that are relatable and reflective of the world that we live in and are truly guided by kindness and understanding, respect and optimism. Music is so integral to our storytelling. It’s about creating stories and characters that encapsulate the best of Disney, forge deep emotional connections that stay with the hearts of our audiences for their entire lives.”

On determining the best platform to launch a show on, Davis noted, “We’re able to meet our audiences wherever they are, whether it’s linear, streaming, digital. There’s very little overlap between viewers on these platforms. So we get to reach our broadest audiences. Now, whether something launches first on linear or streaming is based on the characteristics and circumstances of each of our titles. When I think about linear networks, we’re looking for shows that are highly repeatable. They lean into comedies. We give an emphasis on all multi-cams and music always, and ultimately it’s our volume play. When we’re thinking about Disney+, the storytelling here always appeals to our broader audience and has that sort of premium wow factor. We tend to do more limited episodes, and depending on the story, we’ll do an all-at-once drop or week-over-week cadence.”

As for different viewing patterns on linear versus streaming, Davis commented: “We’ve never really had a hit show on one that wasn’t a hit on another platform. That being said, though, our approach to launching a linear show is different. In our linear launches, we can lean into scheduling, stunting and on-air promotion to drive sampling and awareness. For Disney+, you have to be clever because it’s really about the pure marketing of the title.”

Davis then discussed how Disney is extending its core franchises across multiple demographics. “We’ve had great success with our Marvel and Lucasfilm partnerships. We’ve focused primarily on preschool and kid audiences. We’re providing these early entry points into these beloved franchises and characters. So very early in the process, we work closely to ensure that we combine their deep knowledge and expertise about the characters in their canon with our decades of experience in creating and engaging in trusted stories for kids.”

Davis then discussed how she and her teams have been driving diversity and inclusion across the Disney Branded Television slate. “We spend a lot of time thinking about the power of storytelling. Our focus at Disney Branded is to create entertainment that allows our audiences to see themselves authentically reflected in our magical and optimistic stories and characters. When people see themselves reflected in our stories, the stories of magic and wonder and adventure, that’s powerful stuff.”