Disney Rolls Out XD Web Portal to UK Audience

Is it even meaningful to talk about rolling out a web site to a particular country, since the interweb doesn’t know many geographical boundaries? Let’s just for a moment pretend it is, so I can link to Mashable’s article about Disney rolling out its XD web portal/community to the United Kingdom (sent to me by the wonderful Mr Broke Hoedown):

Disney is gearing up for its UK launch, focusing on its Xtreme Digital portal that’s aimed at children. Rolled out earlier this year in the U.S., Xtreme Digital is a semi-customizable network for children to interact with Disney-branded content, chat with others, and view short film and television clips and podcasts.

This very regulated community will be spread across Europe in the coming months, with initiatives in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. In true Disney nature, the main focus of its Internet initiative will remain on its core brand. This rather sheltered approach has worked pretty well for Disney and enables the company to maintain its image, which is among the most important aspects of its brand management.

Now, I know at least one young blogger who’s not impressed by the user interface design of Disney XD: The Watchamacallit. Let’s review:

They want you to watch this video, listen to this song, chat on their single board, play this game, and rate all of them at the same time. Now I know why they bought Club Penguin. Seriously, If you can figure out how to do things one at a time, than great for you. for every one who isn’t at that level of 1337-ness, just avoid it.

Mashable goes on to remind us that Disney plans to ultimately deliver full-length films on XD. I imagine that’ll be the killer app, especially if televisions and computers eventually converge more effectively. But for the moment, I do believe the kids are still flocking to other kids-oriented sites, at least until they’re old enough to lie about their ages and hop onto FaceBook.