Edition 20: Disney Channel, why is it such a big hit?
Two cable ratings records and the top two selling albums on the Billboard charts within one week; Disney is sure doing well. We all knew they were a big force in the movie industry but now they’re starting to control television.
On the 17th of August the Disney Channel aired High School Musical 2 (starring amongst others Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale), the sequel to last years surprise hit. Over 17.24 million people watched the movie, making it the single most successful telecast on basic cable in the history of American television. This means that not everyone is even able to see it; considering not everyone has cable.
The soundtrack for the movie stormed to number one in the Billboard charts selling 615.000 copies. It’s only the fourth movie soundtrack that ever managed to sell over 600.000 copies within one week. It also easily outperforms the first movie in that regard seeing that didn’t reach the number one position in the charts until almost three months after it was released.
Following in its trail Hannah Montana broke a ratings record for highest rated regular series in the history of basic cable; 10,7 million people watched the latest episode of the show. The episode aired after High School Musical 2 so that probably helped it a little bit but it still gets high ratings every week. The sales numbers for the Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus soundtrack also went up since last week and pushed it to number two in the Billboard charts. It’s not officially platinum yet but by now it sold over one million copies. The High School Musical 2 soundtrack will also be platinum soon enough.
They also started selling tickets for Miley Cyrus’ first concert tour; some of the concerts were sold out within fifteen minutes. Individually Miley is still the number one with Disney; the collective force of the High School Musical Stars got Miley beaten though. Next year we’ll see High School Musical 3 in theatres, which must be a first; a TV movie where the second sequel makes it into theatres. We’ll also see the Hannah Montana movie, so there might even be some competition going on there within Disney. But Disney is smart enough to not let those two interfere with each other.
Why are these things such a huge hit? It doesn’t just depend on the people involved, Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens both released albums but their sales figures don’t come close to the High School Musical soundtrack. Solo wise they aren’t doing bad, but they sure aren’t a big hit.
It seems like Disney doesn’t even have real competition right now, their main rivals Nickelodeon sure can’t keep up at the moment. I think the main reason for its success is that it’s harmless, there’s nothing really bad about the movies and shows on the Disney Channel.
I doubt there are a lot of parents that forbid their kids to watch it because it’s a bad influence or anything like that. Not that Nickelodeon is full of violence and drug addicts, but Disney just seems to hit something with the public. It’s just the happy fluffy Disney world their parents grew up with too, the difference is that things have gotten a lot more commercial and now those parents are buying the merchandise.
The message of shows and movies like this is as old as movies itself really. If you just think you can make it and you fight for it you will make it. There’s nothing wrong with that message it’s just not really new, Disney just found a way of packaging it in a way that’s attractive to kids and none threatening to parents.
This can’t last forever of course; Nickelodeon has been the higher rated network for quite some time that only recently changed. I’m sure they’ll do everything in their power to get back on top. As with anything, what goes up must come down. So there will be a time when Disney won’t be on top anymore, we just don’t know when that will be.
Written by bvang
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