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Opinion: With the Disney Channel’s slow demise, where will Gen Alpha find their ‘Hannah Montana’?

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Opinion: With the Disney Channel's slow demise, where will Gen Alpha find their 'Hannah Montana'?

As a child of the late ’90s and early 2000s, I can’t help but feel a twinge of melancholy when I read about the slow demise of Disney Channel. The network was like my second home, a magical place where I could escape into fantastical worlds filled with singing teenagers, talking animals, and high school dramas. It was a time when every Friday night felt like a special occasion, as I eagerly waited for the latest episode of “That’s So Raven” or “Hannah Montana.

For two nights in March, a lively group of individuals aged 20-30 flooded into Disneyland, dressing up as characters from “Hannah Montana”, “Brink!”, “The Cheetah Girls” and “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody”. They performed songs from “Camp Rock” during karaoke sessions and playfully traced the famous mouse ear logo with imaginary wands.

Even Mickey and Minnie joined in, dressing as East High Wildcats, the signature team from “High School Musical.”

However, while Main Street buzzed with excitement, it was evident that Disney Channel Night marked the end of an old chapter in our history.

Of course, Disney Channel isn’t actually dead. It still exists as a cable network. But where it once roared with billion-dollar hits that seemingly infiltrated every living room in America, it now barely whispers.

For approximately ten years, Disney Channel’s viewership has significantly decreased from around 2 million viewers in 2014 to just over 132,000 viewers in 2023, which is only slightly more than the number of people attending a single Taylor Swift concert. The dream of millions of viewers gathering together to watch one of its premieres, as was common for shows like “High School Musical 2” in 2007, has become something of the past.

As a die-hard movie enthusiast who’s always on the lookout for the next big Disney flick, I must admit that the last film officially branded as a Disney Channel Original Movie was screened in 2022. Nowadays, the cable network occasionally airs films under the banner of “Disney Original Movies,” which, interestingly enough, share almost identical branding with movies produced for Disney+, their digital streaming platform. It’s worth noting that many of these recent releases have received minimal buzz or excitement among fans.

In terms of popular sitcoms on Disney Channel, the ones creating a lot of excitement lately have been “Raven’s Home” and the forthcoming “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.” These shows are continuations of series from the 2000s and include some of the original cast members, leveraging the nostalgia for these franchises and stars that Disney Channel introduced many years ago.

Previously, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, stated that their traditional TV networks might not be essential for Disney. More recently, in July, Disney’s TV division carried out a workforce reduction, affecting around 140 employees.

It’s not just Disney’s parent company that contributes to Disney Channel’s gradual decline. The conventional television viewing experience is rapidly fading away. Today’s kids have easy access to short videos on their mobile devices, which they can watch at any time. Furthermore, platforms like TikTok are propelling new celebrities into the spotlight faster than sitcoms ever could.

In 1983, when the Disney Channel first debuted, cable television was experiencing significant growth. Originally available only to a limited number of subscribers as a premium service, it expanded to basic cable in the late 1990s and quickly became popular across the country.

During the 2000s, Disney Channel successfully produced an impressive series of entirely new live-action shows and films that were not associated with traditional intellectual property from the recognizable Disney brand. These productions resonated strongly with the underrepresented tween audience, leaving a lasting impact on both viewers and their families.

In 2007, Disney Channel reached its height of popularity, becoming the leading cable network during prime time hours. The audience wasn’t just consuming what was shown on-screen, but also additional content such as albums, video games, concert tickets, and clothing. This extended consumption significantly contributed to the channel’s massive revenue from merchandise sales, amounting to billions of dollars.

Through its diverse branches, Disney transformed relatively unknown actors like Hilary Duff, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato into familiar faces. Several of these talents released music through Disney’s record labels, which frequently topped the Billboard charts during their successful stints on hit television shows.

During her time on “Hannah Montana”, Cyrus’ impact was so significant – given she played an ordinary girl who secretly performed as a popular popstar in disguise – that at just 16 years old, her concert tour prompted Ticketmaster to venture into the realm of exclusively paperless tickets for the first time. This shift in approach had a profound effect on the entire music industry.

Brittany Spanos, a Rolling Stone reporter, recently declared that we’re in an era of pop stars reminiscent of Hannah Montana, as Gen Z artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and Chappell Roan have shown their early fondness for the sitcom and embody some of Hannah’s playful qualities in their music and stage performances.

Stars similar to Rodrigo, Carpenter, and actress Jenna Ortega all had significant roles in Disney Channel sitcoms early on, much like Cyrus, yet they didn’t achieve widespread recognition until after their tenures with the network were long past.

For the performers, such delayed success is arguably a good thing. In recent years, there has been a growing reckoning about the immense pressure and potentially traumatic effects of fame on young people — and the ethics and safety issues of minors working professionally in the entertainment industry at all.

Discontinuing Disney Channel’s prominence and impact on culture signifies a significant blow to Disney. For those viewers who have surpassed the age of Elsa and are not yet ready for “Euphoria,” this leaves a noticeable gap in their entertainment options that needs to be addressed.

Disney is continuing to try and replicate its successful approach from the past in targeting the tween demographic. During this year’s D23 event, they unveiled a concert tour taking place in arenas, featuring actors from their popular “Descendants” and “Zombies” film series.

It appears that Disney is recognizing the key to preserving the enchantment of the Disney Channel lies not in producing fresh hits, but rather by leveraging the nostalgia of their older viewers through events like those at Disneyland and by offering a continuous Throwback playlist on Disney+.

So, if today’s Generation Alpha children mature, what kind of live-action Disney productions will they look back on with fondness as shared memories?

In 2005, Disney embarked on a journey to revitalize and reinvent their corporation. This is why they brought on Bob Iger and myself, Cyrus stated in a speech last month, as I became the youngest recipient of the company’s Disney Legends award.

Presently, efforts are being made to identify a successor for Iger by the time his contract ends in 2026. This is definitely a challenging task, yet it’s achievable.

And it’s certainly easier than finding another Miley Cyrus without a Disney Channel.

Ashley Spencer serves as a journalist and penned the book titled “Disney High: An Unveiled Account of the Ascent and Decline of Disney Channel’s Teen Kingdom.

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2024-09-23 13:33

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