The Walt Disney Company on November 5, 2026 published the first programming details for D23 Asia: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, a three-day convention that will run from June 25 to June 27, 2027 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. One of the three evening showcases on the event's Premiere Stage is reserved for Disney+, with a promise of upcoming Korean and Japanese series and appearances by Asian creators and celebrities. Tickets go on sale in late November. Disney did not give a price, a capacity figure, an attendance target or a list of sponsors.

In Short

Disney is holding its big fan convention in Asia for the first time, in Singapore in June 2027, and has now said what will happen there: three evening shows, more than 15 themed exhibits, stages for panels and a shop that will include some items normally sold only in Disney's employee stores. One of the three evening shows is about Disney+, with a focus on new Korean and Japanese series. For marketers it shows Disney using a ticketed fan event to promote its streaming service in Asia, but the company has not yet said anything about prices, sponsors or how many people it expects.

What Disney disclosed

The announcement is short. It sets out the structure of the event, names its main venues inside Marina Bay Sands and leaves almost every commercial detail for later. According to Disney, the convention will draw on Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Disney+ and Hulu, combining a daytime convention floor with "nightly star-studded showcases".

Carol Choi, who is described in the release as Executive Vice President, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, and incoming APAC President, framed the event as a regional version of the company's American fan gathering. "Anyone who has experienced D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event knows how unforgettable it is - to step into the many worlds of Disney together with a community of fans that shares your passion," Choi said. "D23 Asia celebrates storytelling, creativity and fandom in a way no other event can."

She added that Disney was "bringing that spirit to Singapore and creating an ultimate fan event specifically for Asia, where fans can discover new worlds, foster new connections and share the joy of great storytelling."

Three nights on the Premiere Stage

The evening programme carries most of the detail. According to Disney, the Premiere Stage will host "three evenings of exclusive reveals, celebrity appearances, live entertainment and first looks from across The Walt Disney Company." Each night has a separate theme:

  • June 25, Studio Showcase: announcements, "never-before-seen footage" and celebrity appearances from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and other studio labels.
  • June 26, Disney+ Showcase: "upcoming Korean and Japanese series alongside new and returning global streaming titles", with first looks and appearances by Asian creators and celebrities.
  • June 27, Disney Hits LIVE! at D23 Asia: a closing concert of Disney and Pixar songs performed by Broadway singers with a live band and animation on screen.

The split matters more than the adjectives around it. One evening is given to the film studios, one to streaming and one to music. The streaming night is the only one of the three in which Disney names specific national production markets, and those markets are South Korea and Japan.

The daytime floor

During the day, according to Disney, visitors will find "more than 15 immersive experiences" drawn from the company's brands, including Disney+ and Hulu. The release does not name any of them.

Three programming areas are described. The Storytellers Stage will host panels and presentations with creators and talent behind Disney films, series and theme park experiences. Talent Central will offer meetings with costumed characters and appearances by talent across the three days. The Spotlight Stage will carry live entertainment, interactive activities and what Disney calls "fan-focused programming".

By PPC Land's count, that gives D23 Asia three named stages, against the five stages Disney listed for the Anaheim edition held from August 14 to August 16, 2026.

Merchandise, including employee-store items

Retail gets its own section in the release. The D23 Marketplace is described as the event's central shopping hub, offering collectibles, apparel and accessories. A second outlet, The Walt Disney Company Store, will be a booth selling D23 Asia-themed collections and "select items typically exclusive to Disney's employee stores", which, according to Disney, will be "available to the public in Asia Pacific for the first time."

That last point is narrow. It concerns a booth at a three-day event, not a change to how Disney sells merchandise in the region. Disney did not say which products would be offered or in what quantities.

Tickets

The release gives a single line on tickets: they "will go on sale in late November." No price, tier structure, daily capacity or sales channel is disclosed, beyond a pointer to the D23Asia.com website and an Instagram account, @D23Asia.

What the release does not say

For a company that publishes detailed advertising metrics to its investors, the announcement is notable for what it omits. There is no attendance projection. There is no mention of sponsors, brand partners or advertising opportunities at the venue. Disney does not say whether the Premiere Stage showcases will be streamed on Disney+ or anywhere else, which would determine whether the reveals reach an audience beyond the people inside Marina Bay Sands. Nor does it name a single title, actor or creator who will appear.

The Singapore Tourism Board, which was quoted when Disney first announced the event in May, is not mentioned in the November release. Marina Bay Sands appears only as the venue.

From a May announcement to a programme

Disney first said on May 5, 2026 that D23 Asia would take place in Singapore in 2027. That announcement gave neither a venue nor dates and stated that ticketing and programming details would follow. It quoted Asad Ayaz, Disney's chief marketing and brand officer; Carol Choi, then titled Executive Vice President, Integrated Marketing and APAC Original Strategy; and Jean Ng, assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board's Experience Development Group. According to Disney, D23 Asia "builds on the legacy" of the fan events held in Anaheim, California.

The November release arrives 184 days after that first announcement and 232 days before the doors open, by PPC Land's calculation.

The American model is the reference point. According to Disney's D23 event page, the 2026 Anaheim edition ran from August 14 to August 16 at the Anaheim Convention Center with more than 50 panels across five stages. D23, the company's official fan club, was founded in 2009 and has more than 1.8 million members worldwide, according to the same page. A deck from the Video Advertising Bureau that PPC Land covered in September put D23 attendance at more than 100,000 fans, compared with 135,000 for Comic-Con in San Diego in 2025 and 30,000 for BravoCon.

The Anaheim event has also served as a stage for commercial news. Around the August 2026 edition, Disney announced that Pixar's Cars would join its Formula 1 partnership, now extended through 2028, complete with Disney Store items and Mattel die-cast vehicles. Whether D23 Asia will carry announcements of that kind is not addressed in the release.

Singapore is not new territory for Disney's marketing. Earlier in 2026, according to Marketing-Interactive, UOB, Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Tourism Board partnered with Disney Cruise Line on an activation around Marina Bay that ran from February to April. And when Disney reported its fiscal second quarter in May, PPC Land noted that the company had launched Disney Adventure, its first cruise ship homeported in Asia, in March 2026.

A change at the top in Asia Pacific

The title attached to Choi's quote reflects a leadership transition. According to a Mediaweek report published on October 20, 2026, and first published by Variety, Choi will assume the role of President, Asia Pacific on December 1, succeeding Luke Kang, who is retiring after 16 years at Disney. Kang joined in 2011 as managing director of Korea.

According to that report, the role covers Disney Entertainment operations across Greater China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, spanning film studios, Disney+, local original productions, consumer products, media networks and content sales. Choi, described as a 20-year Disney veteran, previously served as managing director of Disney in Japan and Korea and most recently oversaw the regional studios business, original content strategy and integrated marketing.

The overlap with the D23 Asia programme is direct. The executive who will run Disney's Asia Pacific business from December is the same one whose previous remit covered the regional original content that the June 26 showcase is partly built around. When the event opens in June 2027, Choi will have been in the president's role for nearly seven months.

Why the marketing community is watching

At first glance, a fan convention sits outside the usual concerns of advertisers and publishers. Several threads in Disney's recent results and product announcements suggest otherwise.

Streaming advertising grows faster

Advertising on Disney's streaming services is growing faster than the rest of its ad business. In the quarter ended March 28, 2026, SVOD advertising revenue rose 12% to $821 million, while Entertainment advertising grew 5% to $1.670 billion and Sports advertising slipped 2% to $1.132 billion. Earlier in the year, PPC Land reported that Disney+ and Hulu had 122 million ad-supported subscribers.

A night devoted to Disney+ programming is, in that light, a marketing event for the product behind the fastest-growing part of Disney's ad revenue. What the release does not say is how the Disney+ Showcase relates to the ad-supported tiers in the markets it targets. The advertising developments PPC Land has tracked this year have been concentrated in the US and Europe: the move of EMEA campaigns to Disney's global ad server, where the ad tier runs in 15 European markets with more than ten DSP integrations, and the AI video ad tool added to Disney Campaign Manager in a closed beta in July. The D23 Asia release contains no advertising information at all.

A consumer-facing showcase

The format of the Premiere Stage nights resembles the presentations Disney stages for advertisers. At its annual upfront, the company previews its programming slate to media buyers in order to sell inventory against it. The Studio Showcase and Disney+ Showcase promise "exclusive announcements", "never-before-seen footage" and "first looks", but to paying fans rather than agencies.

For film, Disney already has a route from cinema to streaming. In September, the company said Toy Story 5 had recorded 20 million views in its first five days on Disney+, after Walt Disney Studios passed $4 billion at the global box office for 2026. A fan event that previews Korean and Japanese local originals for a regional audience is a different kind of lever, aimed at series that do not have a cinema release to build awareness.

Live fandom as a marketing channel

Live events have become a recurring theme in media and creator marketing. YouTube scheduled appearances at seven events during the 2026 season, from VidCon in Anaheim to DreamCon in Houston, with every announced location in the United States. A 2025 survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory found that 41% of US social media users aged 18 to 65 had attended at least one in-person influencer event in the previous year, and PPC Land's coverage set that shift against projections for the wider creator economy.

The VAB deck offers the clearest numbers on why such events interest marketers. According to that material, 55% of US adults rated in-person events as important or very important to expressing their fandom, and fans spent more than $85 billion on TV, film and sports merchandise and apparel in 2025. Fans also reportedly spend more on streaming: $71 a month on four services, against $56 a month on three for non-fans, according to Deloitte figures cited in the deck. The survey figures in the deck describe American adults. D23 Asia will test whether a comparable model works in Southeast Asia, at a venue in Singapore, with programming built partly around Korean and Japanese series.

Does Disney expect the event to sell advertising, sponsorship or data partnerships? The November release does not say. It describes an event built to sell tickets, merchandise and attention for Disney's own titles, and leaves the economics of all three undisclosed.

Timeline

Summary

Who: The Walt Disney Company, with Carol Choi, Executive Vice President, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, and incoming APAC President, quoted in the announcement. Marina Bay Sands is the venue.

What: Disney published the first programming details for D23 Asia: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, including three themed Premiere Stage nights (a Studio Showcase, a Disney+ Showcase featuring Korean and Japanese series, and a closing concert), more than 15 immersive experiences, three daytime programming areas, and a merchandise offer that includes items usually limited to Disney employee stores. Tickets go on sale in late November; no prices, sponsors or attendance targets were disclosed.

When: The announcement was published on November 5, 2026. The event runs from June 25 to June 27, 2027.

Where: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. It is the first D23 event held in Asia, following the editions in Anaheim, California.

Why: Disney is extending its American fan event to Asia Pacific as Choi prepares to take over the region on December 1. For marketers, the event shows Disney using a ticketed live format to promote Disney+ and its Korean and Japanese originals, at a time when streaming advertising is growing faster than the rest of the company's ad revenue. The release leaves open whether the showcases will be streamed and whether any advertising or sponsorship is involved.