Disney Channel - The Rise and Fall?

This video takes a look at the rise and potential fall of the classic children's television channel.

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Company Declines:
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[SirAsdf]

The golden days of getting a day off and switching between Nick, CN, and Disney so you could attempt that perfect balance of your favorite shows.

[MasterForte]

If you compare the ratings of the disney channel from 2012 to 2022, they lost about 90% of their audience. Kids these days dont care much in regards to television. Thats why we see Nick put nothing but SpongeBob content and CN expands more towards the adult crowd.

[phillinsogood]

Once HSM & Hannah Montana came out, it was clear that Disney channel was going for the musical route for obvious reasons MONEY & Viewership.

The focus shifted from more realistic storylines to shows and movies about chasing fame and making it in entertainment. I definitely noticed that back in middle school.

[JM]

As an adult, I’ve never been as excited for a movie as I was for a Disney Channel original movie marathon back in the day.

[Tazzer]

My personal experience with watching Disney Channel was primarily about watching Kim Possible, by far one of the best animated shows of the era. So glad it broke through that ceiling of an episode limit and gave the fans a season four and a subsequent conclusion. However, the less said about that live-action movie, the better.

[huggablecat]

Brink, Smart House, Luck of the Irish, Alley Cat Strike, Johnny Sunami, Halloweentown. Those were some absolute BANGERS of my childhood. Thanks for covering this Company Man!

[otakubullfrog]

As the only premium channel I could convince my parents to get at first, watching early Disney Channel with no commercial breaks felt magical. Any time leftover between shows was used to spotlight other Disney offerings and for neat little bumpers that really kept the mood going.

[eccentricbass]

I don’t really think it’s fallen any further than TV has fallen. I stopped watching cable as soon as I left home for college. Most people in Disney Channel’s target demographic probably did, too. Now, you’d expect a younger generation to replace that viewership, but as we’re seeing millennials and even Gen Z start to become parents, their households typically don’t have cable. So of course Disney Channel wouldn’t survive that.

[thebeebz]

Disney channel would NEVER run ads for anything but their own properties in the commercial breaks. You would even see behind the scenes featurettes or full music videos IN THE COMMERCIAL breaks. Thats how big this thing was. On basic cable they would only advertise other stuff that was playing later that week

[PhoenixGamerxx]

That's sad because I grew up watching Disney's Recess and Kim Possible on Disney Channel as a kid. They were my childhood favorites as a kid and now seeing the channel going downhill is really heartbreaking to me.

[ImMetalMechanika]

Nick, CN, and Disney have all went downhill in terms of programming for the last 5-6 years.

[truinright]

All hail the 1997-2002 Disney Channel Era! Us Millennials will forever cling to the nostalgia of it all! The best shows came from that era…and those characters are immortalized for eternity!

[JTsLeague]

the best era is by far the era with Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Suite Life, That's So Raven, KP, etc. After those shows ended it was very hit or miss, but shows like Good Luck Charlie, and the Descendants movies were so well done and felt like that old Disney.

[redskins]

I worked at Disney HQ in California from 2007-09. Disney Channel was the most important thing at that time. The internal employee newsletters always highlighted the biggest Disney Channel shows and stars (it’s how I first heard the names Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift). Even other properties like Pixar did not get as much hype internally. This was also the same time when Netflix launched its streaming service, and at a town hall Anne Sweeney said Disney would never get into streaming. Of course, we all know how that turned out.

[scottstark]

2002-2014 is the only era I am familiar with. My son was born at the beginning of this era and from 04-14 we watched our fair share of Disney Channel. My wife and I even enjoyed many of the shows, Suite Life, Life with Derek, Hannah Montanna, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, and many of their original movies. I even remember taking our son to see High School Musical 3 and Hannah Montanna the movie in theaters. During this ten year period if you came to our house the television was usually on ESPN or any NFL game on Sunday/Monday night, Disney Channel or Food Network the rest of the week.

[Eastsid]

I never paid too much attention to Disney channel favoring Nick and CN more.

What I can say is that I worked at Game stop in the mid 2000s and the amount of Hannah Montana, high school musical and suite life games we sold was very surprising.

[jaylenadegoke]

It’s interesting that the downfall of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon happened around the same time. Although there are many reasons for this, I think it all comes down to Social Media. Disney and Nick began to fade in relevance around 2014. It was also the same time that Disney and Nick seemingly put an end to their “pop star machine” they had going throughout the 2000’s that brought us some of the biggest pop stars we know today. For many, Good Luck Charlie and Victorious (which ironically debuted just a week from each other in 2010) are regarded as the last great shows from both networks and after those shows ended, both networks were never the same again.

[siennahartle]

For months before finding Nemo was even announced Disney channel aired fish facts during commercial breaks in order to get kids excited about fish so they would beg their parents to take them to see the fish movie

[JoeHusosky]

Backing 1982 to 84, My friends worked in telemarketing selling the Disney channel and the Playboy channel. It was pretty funny that the most popular option was the combo pack by a large margin.😂

[jalabi]

Can't remember the IG Reel I watched but it had a former Disney Channel star from _Liv & Maddie_ explaining the real reason for the "65 episode" season: the contracts they signed with Disney were at scale (basically minimum wage), and once the show gained great popularity the honchos at Disney would force a change of the name of the program, and force all the cast to sign a new contract, thus bringing them back to scale. That's why it went from _The Suite Life of Zack and Cody_ to _The Suite Life on Deck_ or from _Liv & Maddie_ to _Liv & Maddie: Cali Style._ Insidious.