After testing the interest of sports fans in short-form content, Disney aims to bring brief bursts to a broader audience.
The company aims to bring so-called “microcontent” to Disney+ in 2026, it announced Wednesday at CES, and in doing so joins a parade of traditional media purveyors working harder to court younger consumers who have grown more accustomed to swiping through Tik Toks, Reels and other attenuated attempts to entertain.
Disney first put a stake in short-attention-span theater with “verts,” or short video vignettes placed on its new ESPN streaming app that might include important game moments or pieces of commentary or analysis from various sports personalities. Fans are able to exert more control over a feed through whichi they can scroll or swipe, and the videos are tailored to the individual interests of users.
Disney indicated it intends to expand the use of short-form video across both news and entertainment, betting that such features will make Disney+ a daily destination for users who want to get updates on their favorite content areas. There have already been some intriguing experiments. In 2025, ABC News launched a daily short-form show for Disney+ called “What You Need to Know” that is hosted each weekday by Rachel Scott or James Longman.
Others are courting similar engagement. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest advertisers, this month is launching “The Golden Pear Affair,” a 50-episode “microsoap” that will be made available initially via social media and, later, a bespoke mobile app. The idea, say backers of the new program, is to reach people who are used to giving content a swipe on a mobile phone, rather than those who sit back and passively swoon in front of a more traditional screen. Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision has been wooing advertisers to a growing series of sudsy “microdramas” that emulate many of the elements of the company’s popular telenovelas. The company recently worked with the Dentsu ad agency to create a bespoke Spanish-language microdrama for retailer JCPenney.
Disney also made outreach to Madison Avenue Wednesday, unveiling a “brand portal” that will allow clients to measure the impact of ad campaigns on Disney properties using data from Affinity Solutions, CINT, EDO, Innovid and VideoAmp. “We’re empowering advertisers to move smarter and faster to reach their goals, with data and measurement guiding their strategy,” said Dana McGraw, Disney’s senior vice president of data and measurement science, in a statement. The company also unveiled a new “impact metric” that it said would offer insight into goals such as consumer attention, reach, brand health, search and actions taken by consumers following exposure to commercials.
