Segmentation at its best

I found the perfect article about segmentation that relates to our class. Cha Ching! It is an article from the New York Times Web site titled “Disney Aims for the Boy Audience With a Cable Channel and a Web Site.” The article is based around Disney’s new cable channel, Disney XD, and new Web Site that launched Friday, February 13th, 2009. Their specific target market is boys ages six to fourteen who are into video games, sports, and television. Disney stated that their success with the movie “Cars” opened their eyes to the youthful male segment. This segment has potential spending power of $50 billion dollars globally that can and should be utilized. Additionally, this expansion into the world of boys is smart and strategic on Disney’s part because there is a clear gap in the market for teen male entertainment. The article mentions that Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network have successfully reached out to this segment. Research shows that 40% of Disney’s viewers are male, so they are hoping to hit this market with a big bang and large influence in 2009.

According to the article, Disney is going to “offer action-adventure programs and youth-oriented sports news provided by ESPN (which is owned by Disney) and a Web site offering games, music and social networking tools.” The music that they use throughout the launch is going to be not only from Disney’s internal label, but from artists across many decades in order to attract kids and their dads. Disney feels that if the dads of this youthful segment can relate to Disney XD, that the kids will have an exponentially higher attraction to the brand as well.

I thought that this article was interesting because we just finished talking about segmentation in class, especially in our group project target market choices. One of the segments that a group chose is the male youth, specifically middle school and high school. This group’s in-depth description about youthful boys is very applicable to the research and assumptions that I’m sure Disney is attempting to analyze, understand, and embrace with their new campaign and launch of Disney XD. I think their new television channel and interactive Web site will be very successful in targeting this market because young boys find value in being independent of girls, and being viewed as tough-guys. Also, if these shows catch on, their popularity will spread like wildfire because when something is considered cool among peers in this segment, then everyone within this segment thinks it’s the best thing that has ever happened in their little world!

For Disney to correctly segment and market to six to14 year old boys, they need to understand what TV plots and story lines interest this group. The article tells us that the first show that they expect to make it big is “Aaron Stone.” It is a live-action program about a boy who leads a secret double life as a crime fighter. The other new series is a comedy called “Zeke and Luther” that contains two boys who are trying to become world-famous skateboarders. “Phineas and Ferb,” a show that is already on the Disney Channel is going to be moved to Disney XD. This will hopefully help loyal watchers of this TV show to transition right on over to Disney XD without any road blocks.

The way I see it, if Disney can find a way to create a male Hannah Montana then they have success in the bag. He doesn’t need to be a rock star, or even a musician. What he does need to be is relational, applicable to their lives and somewhat of a hero to these boys who are growing, confused, and looking for fun. I think Disney can do it; they always find a way to a kids’ heart. Or at least they found their way to mine!