Disney’s New Direct-to-Consumer ESPN App Might Change the Case for Investing in Walt Disney (DIS)

• In August 2025, The Walt Disney Company unveiled a new ESPN app offering live sports, personalized news, and highlights to users outside of traditional Pay TV, as part of a broader shift to direct-to-consumer streaming.
• This move targets millions who have left cable television, highlighting Disney's effort to recapture and grow its sports audience in a rapidly evolving streaming landscape.
• We'll now explore how direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming could reshape Disney's long-term investment outlook and digital revenue potential.

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Walt Disney Investment Narrative Recap

Owning shares in Walt Disney means believing that the direct-to-consumer push, especially with the new ESPN streaming app, positions the company to regain sports fans and unlock digital revenue growth despite fierce competition and evolving viewer habits. While this headline signals progress on the most important short-term catalyst, the expansion of Disney's streaming ecosystem, the short-term risk remains the potential for rising sports rights costs outpacing new subscription gains, which could pressure earnings if adoption lags expectations.

The recently announced exclusive ESPN-WWE agreement, enabling WWE’s premium live events on ESPN’s new streaming service starting in 2026, adds valuable differentiated content to Disney’s sports streaming portfolio, aligning closely with efforts to boost engagement and recurring revenue. By deepening its roster of high-demand sports programming, Disney strengthens its catalyst of driving digital adoption, though it also underlines the expense and execution risks tied to growing the DTC business at scale.

However, investors should also be alert to the growing risk if younger audiences continue gravitating toward short-form, user-generated content rather than...

Read the full narrative on Walt Disney (it's free!)

Walt Disney's outlook suggests $106.4 billion in revenue and $11.9 billion in earnings by 2028. This is based on a projected 4.0% annual revenue growth rate and a modest earnings increase of $0.3 billion from current earnings of $11.6 billion.

Uncover how Walt Disney's forecasts yield a $132.23 fair value, a 12% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Ten members of the Simply Wall St Community valued Disney between US$95.52 and US$132.23 per share before the ESPN streaming news. Some see strong DTC catalysts while others caution about costly content bets, so consider the wide range of forecasts before forming your own view.

Explore 10 other fair value estimates on Walt Disney - why the stock might be worth as much as 12% more than the current price!

Build Your Own Walt Disney Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Walt Disney research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free Walt Disney research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Walt Disney's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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