Disney Continues To Consolidate Its International Division - Read How

Walt Disney Company DIS picked Kristen Finney to lead content curation for its international division, pushing to make more regional content for streaming, Reuters reports.

As EVP, Finney will work on building a team to track and evaluate "content needs and appropriateness for Disney+ and Star/Star+."

Finney will oversee content strategy in the regions for Disney+ and adult-skewing vertical Star, along with linear channels, acting as a centralized hub for international content acquisition information, cross-regional licensing opportunities, content slates, and pipelines, Deadline.com reports.

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Finney is a former Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution and DMED executive. Rebecca Campbell helmed Disney's international content and operations group.

The hub aimed to drive the growth of Disney+, Hulu, and Star+ as Disney ramped up investment in local content, echoing Netflix Inc's NFLX strategy.

Though the international market and mainly subscribers in India have helped boost Disney's overall subscriber count, the recent loss of cricket streaming rights may contribute to a slowdown in growth, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Thus, some analysts expect Disney to ease its goal of hitting more than 230 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.

The streaming companies battled a subscriber slowdown as the economy gradually recovered and people started venturing out from their homes. Secondly, inflation has also curbed consumer spending.

In June, Disney abruptly fired Peter Rice, its senior television content executive, citing an ill fit with Disney's corporate culture. Disney CEO Bob Chapek ousted Rice during a brief meeting and named Dana Walden as Rice's successor.

Price Action: DIS shares traded higher by 0.54% at $96.60 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.

Photo by Anthony Quintano via Flickr