The Walt Disney Co. launched its free, family-oriented Web site Family.com in 1996. The site had partnerships with more than 100 local parenting publications. It also offered a recipe library and a customized activities index for parents and their children. Parenting sites like Family.com attracted a large percentage of women, and thus advertisers were attracted to the site's demographics.
In 1997 Disney launched its Daily Blast site for kids. This subscription-based site charged $4.95 per month and was aimed at children age 12 and under. Its content included animated storybooks, downloadable games, and educational toys and puzzles. It also featured news and sports stories written by children. Disney's popular characters—including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy—were also present at the site. Through an agreement with Microsoft Corp., users of the Microsoft Network (MSN) had free access to the Daily Blast site.
Other Internet sites operated by Disney at the time included Disney.com, where the company sold its merchandise, and sites affiliated with subsidiaries ABC-TV and ESPN. Disney also owned a majority interest in Starwave, based in Bellevue, Washington, which ran the family-oriented Family Planet site as well as ESPN SportsZone.
Disney.com was a popular site and consistently ranked high in popularity. As more people began to shop online in 1997, Disney.com reported a fivefold increase in online sales over 1996. The shopping site at Disney.com generated about as much revenue as three brick-and-mortar Disney stores, according to the company. In 1998 Disney and bookseller Barnesand-Noble.com teamed up to create Disney book boutiques that featured Disney titles and was available online at both companies' Web sites.
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