After 15 years, "Dancing with the Stars" is moving on from ABC ... and heading to Disney+ (DIS) for a two-season order.
The shocking move, announced on Friday, represents a big milestone in the streaming wars as the dance competition series will be the first live-streaming reality series in the U.S.
NFL's "Monday Night Football" is part of the network's plan for that coveted 8-10 p.m. ET time slot.
"After over 30 seasons of the program on ABC, including two spin-offs, 'Dancing with the Stars' will move off of ABC this fall in order for the Network to showcase several 'Monday Night Football' games as well as develop and invest in new and future programming," ABC said in a statement.
Experts in the space believe this is the right move for the fledging streaming platform, which has quickly climbed the ranks after two and a half years on the market.
"What do people absolutely have to tune into? And what can people wait to tune into? That question alone helps to unveil a lot of the variants and direction in this decision," said Anthony Palomba, professor of business administration at UVA’s Darden School of Business.
Palomba, who specializes in entertainment consumer behavior, went on to explain that a live sporting event, like football, often takes precedence for cable due to its perishability.
"There isn't as much pressure to immediately view 'Dancing with the Stars,'" the professor continued, adding that "Monday Night Football's" advertising allure and ratings' consistency likely served as additional catalysts for the decision.
For context, NFL Media announced that its nationally-broadcasted games averaged 17.3 million viewers per game (both TV and digital) in 2021, a 17% increase from the 2020 season.
To compare, season 30 of "DWTS" saw viewers sink to just 4.89 million — down significantly from its 2010-2011 season highs when nearly 21 million viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen. (Interestingly, the latest season still ranked among the top 5 unscripted series with adults aged 18-49.)
Although "DWTS" has struggled to climb back to its previous ratings' domination, Palomba told Yahoo Finance that the reality TV program has a more diverse, female-driven audience compared to the older NFL demographic — a unique element that streamers can better capitalize on than cable providers.
"Females often make very big decisions in households, including which streaming service to select, so I think it's very bright on the part of Disney to secure streaming programs that appeal to women and likely women of the households, who are inclined to make some of these streaming service subscription decisions," he explained.
Palomba emphasized that it's increasingly important for Disney to add franchise series beyond just Marvel and Lucasfilm, adding, "This is a natural fit to migrate this audience to Disney+ while also making room for time appointment viewing on ABC."
Streaming affords the opportunity for further refinement for consumer segmentation, and further tailored experiences for audiences...Anthony Palomba, UVA’s Darden School of Business Professor
Disney hopes the hardcore fanbase of "DWTS" will lead to more users over time, especially as subscriber growth slows across the sector — a fact that hit competitor Netflix especially hard in its most recent earnings report.
The company forecasted a net add of 2.5 million subscribers in Q1 2022, compared to 3.98 million during the first quarter last year. The weak guidance sent shares plummeting.
Meanwhile, Disney+ had 129.8 million subscribers worldwide as of its first quarter of 2022. The company reiterated its target to bring 230 million to 260 million subscribers to the service by the end of fiscal 2024.
With more streamers experimenting with ways to enhance the overall user experience (and collect more subscriber data along the way), groundbreaking decisions like this one can help push the sector into its next phase of growth.
"There's an oversupply of content in the marketplace," Palomba noted. He explained that tailored consumer experiences, like Netflix's (NFLX) double thumbs-up feature and interactive game show series like "Trivia Quest," can help differentiate top players in the market.
"Streaming affords the opportunity for further refinement for consumer segmentation, and further tailored experiences for audiences," he said, doubling down that streamers have the opportunity to explore that user experience in a way traditional networks cannot.
Disney+ welcoming a live reality program (and one that viewers can tangibly interact with by voting) signals a new stage in the streaming wars — a stage that's likely to see more groundbreaking shakeups moving forward.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the latest Netflix subscriber growth forecast
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193
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