Disney Poaches Google VP to Lead Streaming Tech

Disney has named Google veteran Jeremy Doig as the chief technologist for Disney Streaming, the business unit behind the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming services.

Doig will join Disney in April and report directly to Disney Streaming President Micheal Paull. As CTO, he will be in charge of technical innovation and growth for Disney+, Star+, ESPN+ and Hulu.

Doig has spent more than 30 years in the online media industry and has held technology roles at the BBC, Microsoft and most recently at Google. He spent the past 18 years at the Mountain View, California-based tech giant, where he pioneered standards for online media and created the underlying video technologies that power YouTube and Chrome.

In Disney’s announcement, Paull called Doig “a true visionary” and added, “We have an exceptional team of global technologists, and Jeremy’s experience leading transformational initiatives in complex and dynamic environments will make him an incredible asset to lead this world-class group.”

Doig joins Disney as it faces a larger than ever list of competitors, ranging from industry stalwarts like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to new entrants like CNN+, which went live just this week. Doig’s new role places the weight of delivering new features to help differentiate the iconic media company’s platforms from its sea of competitors directly on his shoulders.

“I’m thrilled to be joining The Walt Disney Company at this crucial moment in the entertainment industry,” Doig said. “The proliferation of streaming services in the market has reached new peaks and there are so many opportunities for technology to push boundaries and create stunning new viewer experiences for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+ subscribers.”

Disney’s flagship streaming service, Disney+, celebrated its second anniversary this past November and had amassed 129.8 million subscribers by the end of January 2022. The company’s earnings report for its first fiscal quarter of 2022 (ending January 31, 2022) revealed that Disney+’s quarterly subscriber growth outpaced all rivals, including Netflix, and is on track to reach between 230 million and 260 million subscribers by 2024.

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