Bob Iger has announced a few priorities on his plate since returning as CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
It’s Disney+ Day!
One of which is focusing on improving streaming at Disney+, along with Hulu and ESPN+. During the last company earnings call, we learned that the total number of Disney+ subscribers was 161.8 million. And now that Disney+ has officially launched its ad-supported tier, we have an update on just how Disney’s streaming service is doing.
On May 10th, 2023, Disney shared its quarterly earnings report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023. In the report, we learned that the total number of Disney+ subscribers is now 157.8 million.
Disney+ EARS
In February of this year, Disney shared that they had 161.8 million subscribers for the streaming service, a decline from October 2022 when Disney reported having 164.2 million subscribers in total. This is yet another decrease in Disney+ subscribers from what we’ve recently seen.
From what we can see in Disney’s Earnings Statement, the loss in subscribers appears to be from Disney+ Hotstar. In December 2022, Disney reported 57.5 million Hotstar subscribers, and as of April 1st, 2023, they’ve reported 52.9 — a decrease. Domestically, the Disney+ subscriber count went from 46.6 million in December 2022 to 46.3 million in April 2023, a loss of 1 percent.
©Disney
Disney also shared that domestic Disney+ average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased from $5.95 to $7.14 due to an increase in average retail pricing. On the flipside, Disney+ Hotstar average monthly revenue per paid subscriber decreased from $0.74 to $0.59 due to lower per-subscriber advertising revenue. This is where revenue went down for Disney+.
According to Disney, this was “due to higher subscription revenue and a decrease in marketing costs, partially offset by higher programming and production costs and, to a lesser extent, increased technology costs. Higher subscription revenue was attributable to subscriber growth and increases in retail pricing, partially offset by an unfavorable foreign exchange impact. The increase in programming and production costs was due to more content provided on the service.”
©Disney
Disney CEO Bob Iger also commented on the content available on Disney+. He said, “It’s critical we rationalize the volume of content we’re creating,” something he has spoken about before. In addition, Iger also announced that there are price increases on the way for Disney+. The ad-free tier will see an increase, but no details have been shared yet.
Hulu and Disney+ will also be combined into one app by the end of the year — though Hulu will still be available separately as well.
Disney+ Day
There you have it, the current outlook on Disney+ subscribers and the streaming business. We’ll be looking out for more updates from Disney and the earnings call, so stay tuned to DFB for more!
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We have paid an annual fee for Disney+ from the first day it launched. Luckily had a friend that shared Hulu with us as Guest. Apparently Iger’s change has been launched. No longer able to excess Hulu as guest, locked out. Disney+ is now ….Disney+ & Hulu w/ads $9.99 a month, Disney+ Hulu and ESPN w/ads $12.99 a month OR Disney+ Hulu and ESPN NO ADS $19.99 a month…….change plans or unsubscribe WOW!!!!!!!! What to do What to do????? If u get Hulu separately w/ads it is $79. 99 a year the same amount I am paying for Disney+ Premium. Does anyone know if the yearly fee is no longer and there is no other choice but a monthly fee with ads?