What just happened?

Disney and Atresmedia have announced a new partnership in Spain which will see Disney+ become home to over 300 hours of Atresmedia-produced Spanish-language content annually. This month, Disney+ subscribers in Spain will be greeted by a new Atresplayer branded hub in the Disney+ app. It will host a selection of new and returning Atresplayer streaming originals and Antena 3 linear series, as well as library content.

This is the latest in a string of alliances between Disney and commercial broadcasters in Europe, following agreements with ITV in the UK and ZDF in Germany. While the Disney/ITV partnership is a reciprocal content share, this agreement is more similar in structure to the Disney/ZDF pact, which also sees content move in one direction only. 

Marking its third such relationship in the “Big Five” European markets, this development can be seen as a further signal of intent from Disney, as it seeks to expand its reach and close the gap to its competitors.

What’s in it for Disney?

As of Q2 2025 - with 3.2m subscribers and 16% Internet household penetration - Disney+ is the fourth largest subscription OTT service in Spain, behind market leader Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max. This is akin to its position in the UK and Germany, where it is the third- and fourth-most subscribed to service. 

As a generally family-oriented service offering mostly US-produced titles, Disney+ is seeking to leverage Atresmedia’s local content to increase its appeal to Spanish consumers. Although Disney+ invests significantly in Spanish content ($837m in 2024), according to Ampere Analytics data Disney+ carried only 686 hours of Spanish-produced content in Spain in July 2025 (3.6% of its total hours), much less than Netflix’s 2,903 hours (5.9%) and Prime Video’s 6,742 hours (23%). 300 hours of Atresmedia content will therefore almost double the amount of locally produced content available on Disney+ in Spain.

The new content will provide familiarity to the 16% of Spanish consumers that use Disney+ and also watch Atresmedia’s channels/Atresplayer. It may also help Disney+ acquire subscribers from among the 38% of Spanish consumers that watch neither, especially as some of the titles licensed by Disney+ will be co-exclusive and release simultaneously.

Furthermore, like its other deals with European broadcasters, and the partnerships between Netflix/Amazon and TF1/France Télévisions in France, this deal could help Disney meet EU content quotas, thereby reducing the need to invest as heavily in local productions.

What’s in it for Atresmedia?

Although this appears to be a somewhat conventional content licensing deal, Atresmedia will benefit from exposure to Disney+ users through its branded hub. 12% of Spanish consumers use Disney+ without watching Atresmedia channels/Atresplayer, many of whom will likely be new to Atresmedia content. This audience segment skews young, with 44% under the age of 34, a priority demographic for a commercial broadcaster. 

Of particular importance for Atresmedia is encouraging consumers to utilise its digital platform, as Atresplayer currently reaches only 9% of Spanish consumers. Ideally, its content will benefit from increased engagement as a result of its exposure on Disney+, which could encourage consumers to seek out similar content through Atresplayer in future.

What’s next?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that global streaming services are keen to access local broadcasters’ audiences in an attempt to drive growth in the developed markets of Western Europe. As such, it’s reasonable to expect that Disney will aim to set up similar arrangements with commercial broadcasters in the remaining “Big Five” markets. Since TF1 and France Télévisions have already partnered with global streaming services in France, we might see Disney turn to an Italian broadcaster next.

With the 2026 launch of HBO Max in Germany, Italy and the UK on the horizon, commercial broadcasters in those markets may soon have another prospective partner to strike similarly-fashioned deals with.