Gearing up for a fun-filled "Monstober," Walt Disney Company
(NYSE:
DIS
) has unveiled a new home page for its ever-evolving website.
Sticking mostly with a Halloween-esque theme, (including
promotions for "Frankenweenie" and interactive game Monster Maze
Mania), the company is striving to provide visitors with a highly
entertaining online experience.
According to
AllThingsD
, Disney has been working on the website since 2011, making sure
to keep tablet and smartphone optimization in mind.
"The new Disney.com is a much cleaner and more elegant site
and a significant change from the legacy site, and any time you
make material changes to a Web experience that has a large
audience, you have potential to unsettle some users," Disney
Interactive co-President James Pitaro told All Things D.
One visit to the website will show visitors that Pitaro was
not lying. The now black and white homepage offers a crisp
backsplash free of clutter and advertisements. The buttons at the
top of the site (for movies, television, music, video, games and
create) offer a simple way to navigate while keeping the home
page focused on four rotating points of entertainment.
AllThingsD noted that while Marvel and Pixar content are
included on the site, ABC and ESPN divisions are currently not
present. So how will this impact Disney's absent
subsidiaries?
If the last month few months were any indication, ESPN is not
feeling the love from Disney. Deutsche Bank analysts recently
said that ESPN advertising is a bit weaker than expected during
the company's fourth quarter.
This is not to say that Pitaro and his team won't find a way
to incorporate ESPN and ABC in the new design in the future.
Still yet to be complete, Disney understands the risks it is
taking and considers the website to be a work in progress.
Disney is not the only company using extensive website
improvements to attract new customers while keeping the familiar
coming back. Microsoft (NASDAQ:
MSFT
) has redesigned core website MSN.com as the company prepares for
the introduction of its newest operating system, Windows 8.
According to
First Post Technology
, the focus on MSN.com is similar to that of Disney; creating a
website that is optimized for technologically advanced users.
"The new look is designed to appeal to tablet and touch-screen
PC users, who can manipulate large icons across the screen and
tap on items they want to read," First Post Technology
reports.
While Microsoft's Windows 8 system is set to launch on October
26, Disney.com's refurbished website is now up and running.
Disney closed at $52.07 on Monday, up about 39 percent
year-to-date. Microsoft is up nearly .50 percent in pre-market
trading on Tuesday morning at $29.63.
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