If you’ve spent some time working in the entertainment biz, chances are you’ve done some brainstorming, hopefully guided by audience research. Many teams begin optimistically, using phrases like, “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” or “What we really need to include is…” but then realities like budget constraints and impending deadlines begin to loom and parts of the bigger picture start fading away.

Disney do things differently. They start with “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” but then finish on it too. Case in point, the newly launched Disney XD – a website and cable channel aimed at that ever-elusive creature, the tween male.

Replacing Toon Disney, this newly launched boy brand has me in cross-platform heaven. On top of the cable channel, they’ve got the token MySpace and Facebook pages, but even better, there’s downloadable content on both iTunes and Xbox Live, the latter being the icing on the cake for me. A quick look around my living room shows the only electronic product Disney XD isn’t available to me is the clock on the wall – that’s impressive.

Before I come across as a total fanboy, let’s talk about some actual content. For starters, you better be into skateboards and secret agents – they’re everywhere on the site. I’m still on the fence over some of the program lineup, particularly flagship show, Aaron Stone. Sure, the whole “schoolboy super-spy” shtick has been done before with Alex Rider and Young Bond, but Canadian production, Aaron Stone seems a little too similar to CBBC’s M.I. High for my liking. There’s got to be a new angle for this kind if thing?

Between the likes of Hannah Montana and the Jo-Bro’s Disney has the girl’s market at this age wrapped up. I’m curious to see if the same thing happens with the male audience here. Right now I’m questioning some of the program output, but Disney’s approach to saturating every content medium, even at this early stage, leaves me awestruck.