Disney+ Expands Into eCommerce, But Could End Up Like The Monster from the Black Lagoon

Is taking a picture of a QR code really the best digital/physical combination we can come up with? The world is truly waiting for Apple's AR capabilities to develop and expand to speed this era of eCommerce.

This brings me to the news that Disney+ is launching a new eCommerce test for subscribers only. A few elements:

* Shop exclusive and early-access merchandise from their brands directly from detail pages on the streaming service.

* In order to access it you need to hold your phone up to the screen and snap the QR code.

Ugh.

Does anyone remember the 80s when certain shows distributed red/blue glasses for special 3D events and you were amazed but yet wondering what the hell the whole family is doing in the living room wearing strange glasses for questionable effects? Who remembers Monster from the Black Lagoon? This is the era I feel like we are in with QR codes.

In the future we could have something like a digital link been your authenticated real-world presence and a connected device (whether that is your TV or AR device) already present. What form this will take is up for debate, however.

Two camps definitely working on these ideas are Meta and Apple. Most people are betting on what seems to be Apple's AR-focused approach whereas Meta is more focused on VR.

I can see this coming, but it sure seems to be happening extremely slowly.

Wrapping up on streaming.... The streaming services that can establish new revenue streams (ads or merch) will definitely have an advantage in the future. Other streaming services feel like they are destined for another cable-like consolidation play.