Disney shareholders overwhelmingly voted to keep the company’s current board intact throughout Wednesday’s annual assembly, suggesting they imagine present CEO Bob Iger has a plan to spice up shares and set up a robust successor.

Now, Iger must show it, or he dangers going through one more activist marketing campaign this time subsequent 12 months.

Iger can present progress in a variety of areas over the subsequent 12 months. That begins with turning his streaming providers right into a worthwhile unit, explaining ESPN’s digital technique, scoring some box-office hits and choosing a successor with a transition plan.

If Disney struggles to indicate traders the leisure big has a coherent technique, or if Iger kicks the succession can down the street as soon as extra, activist traders could also be knocking on the corporate’s door once more throughout subsequent 12 months’s annual assembly to demand change.

“They nonetheless have the identical issues they’ve had earlier than, that are actually trade issues,” said TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz. “Direct-to-consumer streaming is simply economically inferior to the previous linear bundle mannequin, which goes away. They should attempt to handle via that.”

Peltz instructed CNBC on Thursday that he wouldn’t wage one other proxy battle if Iger exhibits progress on his key priorities.

“I hope Bob can preserve his guarantees,” Peltz stated Thursday. ” I hope they’ll do all of the issues they assured us they had been going to do. I am going to watch and wait. In the event that they do it, they will not hear from me once more.”

Disney might want to maintain and develop streaming revenue to justify Iger’s five-year-old technique to go “all in” on the phase.

Iger’s confidence that Disney will make streaming worthwhile by the top of the fiscal 12 months stems from draconian cost-cutting on content material, which incorporates new films, sports activities rights spending and TV manufacturing. Disney stated in November it was targeting an “annualized leisure money content material spend discount goal” of $4.5 billion.

“What they should do subsequent is repair the streaming losses,” said Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin. “They nonetheless want to chop prices on the streaming aspect to get to profitability.”

Within the fall of 2024, Disney plans to launch a thin sports activities bundle that features ESPN’s linear community, together with sports activities channels from Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox. The yet-to-be-priced digital streaming service will likely cost about $45 or $50 per month, CNBC reported in February. Disney owns one-third of it.

ESPN will then debut its personal flagship streaming service within the fall of 2025. It is going to embrace new personalised options that cater to sports activities bettors and fantasy sports activities gamers. The Athletic reported final month that service is prone to price $25 or $30 per thirty days.

Disney dangers complicated shoppers with its a number of affords and might want to roll out its new merchandise with clear messaging. Disney has already provided ESPN+, a sports activities streaming service that has some however not all of ESPN’s content material. That prices $10.99 per thirty days and will be bundled with Disney+ and Hulu.

ESPN will even keep a necessary a part of the cable bundle. Subscribers will wish to know what they’re paying for and what content material they do and do not get with their extra subscription {dollars}.

Disney hired David Greenbaum, beforehand co-president of Searchlight, on Feb. 26 to take over as president of Walt Disney Movement Image Studios, changing Sean Bailey. He’ll report back to Disney Leisure co-Chairman Alan Bergman, who’s on the hot seat to vary the division’s fortunes.

Aside from 2022′s “Avatar: The Approach of Water,” which Disney acquired as a part of its $71 billion deal for the majority of 21st Century Fox, the corporate has not had a film generate greater than $1 billion because the final Star Wars launch in 2019, in accordance with knowledge from Comscore. Sony produced and distributed “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which made $1.9 billion, though Disney’s Marvel Studios did function a co-producer.

A number of big-budget franchise movies have flopped. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Future” in 2023 generated $378 million globally. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” secured $476 million worldwide, unusually low for a Marvel movie (till “The Marvels” reached simply over $200 million late final 12 months). And Pixar’s “Lightyear” collected lower than $250 million globally in 2022.

Trian Companions’ Nelson Peltz, who failed to affix Disney’s board Wednesday after securing simply 31% of the vote, publicly questioned what he has known as Disney’s “woke” content material technique. The corporate’s inventive crew has actively sought to create movies and tv exhibits centered on individuals of colour in addition to exploring narratives outdoors heteronormativity.

“Individuals go to observe a film or a present to be entertained,” Peltz stated in an interview with the Financial Times. “They do not go to get a message.”

Iger stated Wednesday that whereas the corporate desires to instill optimistic messages into its content material, that should not be the primary precedence.

“Our job is to entertain in the beginning, and by telling nice tales,” Iger said in the course of the firm’s annual shareholder assembly. “We proceed to have a optimistic influence on the world and encourage future generations, simply as we have carried out for over 100 years.”

He’ll wish to ensure that individual is ready to run an expansive firm, with a flourishing parks enterprise, a declining legacy TV unit, a nonetheless younger streaming division, and a struggling however legendary film studio. Inner candidates embrace Bergman, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, Parks and Resorts Chairman Josh D’Amaro, and Disney co-chairman of leisure Dana Walden, who might be the first female CEO within the firm’s 100-year historical past.

“The issue is how do you exchange Bob Iger? They have been attempting to do it for 10 years, and it is very troublesome for a number of causes,” stated TD Cowen’s Creutz. “Bringing somebody from the surface into Disney, which has a really sturdy, distinctive tradition, is dangerous. Then you definitely’re all the way down to inside candidates, and if there is not anybody internally you suppose can step into the function, you’ve got obtained an issue.”

The board has now been given the greenlight to proceed with its search course of. That is a win for Iger, and shareholders voted Wednesday they imagine it is a win for them, too.

— CNBC’s Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.

WATCH: Disney nonetheless wants to chop prices on streaming aspect to get to profitability, says Needman’s Martin