Disney +
Disney reported fourth-quarter earnings earlier, in which new subscribers to its Disney + streaming service added a whopping 12.1 million, beating analysts’ estimates of 3 million. Overall, Disney added a total of 14.6 million new subscribers on Disney +, Hulu and ESPN +, bringing the total to 236 million, of which 164 million were Disney + subscribers. Compared to Netflix’s 223 million subscribers, Disney + alone isn’t a short distance away, but when you compare all Disney services in total, it’s nearly the same order of magnitude as the first Netflix sibling.
However, behind the rapidly growing number of subscribers is a sharp rise in operating losses, which nearly doubled to $ 1.5 billion from $ 800 million in the previous quarter. Disney explained that this is due to the fact that, on the one hand, Disney + involves high production costs and high technology expenses, along with ever-increasing marketing costs; on the other hand, there are new films without Premier Access last season, which are missing this part of the revenue. However, Disney has also raised its subscription rates to compensate and will raise prices further in December.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company believes Disney + can make a profit in fiscal year 2024 due to the increase in subscription rates and upcoming ad subscription levels, but that’s also under the premise. of “a stable economic environment”.
