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Disney’s latest quarterly earnings call happened on February 7th, 2024. Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed a LOT about the future of The Walt Disney Company, but there were a few notable exceptions. Although Disney still hasn’t answered some of our major questions, we do have an update on the company’s FOUR biggest priorities, which were first introduced during Disney’s 2023 Q4 earnings call. Let’s see how those plans are taking shape!

In the 2023 Q4 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger introduced these “four key building opportunities” for The Walt Disney Company. These priorities were touted as the central pillars that Disney would build upon over the next few years, and are “central” to Disney’s success. Those priorities are:

• Achieving significant and sustained profitability in our streaming business
• Building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform
• Improving the output and economics of Disney film studios
• Turbocharging growth in the Experiences business

After the latest earnings call, we have some updates on these goals!

Goal 1: Achieving significant and sustained profitability in the streaming business.

Bob Iger has called Disney’s streaming business his number-one priority. That said, Disney+’s success has wavered since it was first introduced, though Iger has a plan. At the end of the 2023 fiscal year, Disney+ Core had a total of 112.6 million subscribers, while Disney+ Hotstar had 37.6 million. Now, as of the latest update, Disney+ subscribers decreased by 1.3 million, though this was in line with Disney’s expectations. Additionally, the company had a loss of $138 million this quarter.

Despite the loss in subscribers, Disney projected a rebound of 5.5 -6 million subscribers for the second quarter. Disney’s financial losses this quarter improved from the $300 million the previous quarter, and Disney is still projecting to reach profitability by the end of 2024.

The company had an overall streaming loss of $138 million this quarter. If Disney hopes to achieve profitability, it will need to continue to shrink its losses going forward. With Disney’s recent Hulu acquisition and the one-app Disney+/Hulu experience, plus Disney’s initiative to crack down on password sharing, it seems like Iger has a clear vision of how to achieve success within the streaming sector.

Click here to learn more about Disney’s wins and losses in streaming

Goal 2: Building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform.

According to Disney’s latest earnings report, ESPN grew in both revenue and operating income, and Disney has big plans for ESPN. Disney announced that a NEW sports streaming platform will debut this fall.

The new streaming service for Disney’s sports assets will combine content from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu, and Max subscribers, and each company will own one-third of the service. We now know that ESPN’s full suite of channels will become a standalone streaming destination in Fall 2025, including ESPN Bet, and at this time, Disney is still working on partnership opportunities with ESPN.

Disney Reveals NEW Details on BIG Streaming Changes

Goal 3: Improving the output and economics of Disney film studios.

Recently, Bob Iger admitted that Disney has been leaning on sequels pretty heavily and promised to improve the output and economics of the Disney film studios. That said, most of the announcements from the latest earnings call focused on expanding Disney’s existing universes.

We learned that a Moana 2 film will be released in theaters this November. Iger confirmed that Frozen 3, a new Toy Story film, and a Star Wars movie on The Mandalorian and Grogu are set to release in 2026 and beyond. We even learned that Disney+’s wildly successful Percy Jackson series will get a second season. So, with so many sequels on the way, will Disney have better success at the box office in 2024 and beyond? Given the company’s recent history, Disney needs a new blockbuster, and it seems like they’re leaning on existing franchises to help.

Disney Just Dropped a Trailer AND Release Date for ‘Moana 2’

Goal 4: Turbocharging growth in the Experiences business.

Here, too, Disney remained pretty quiet in terms of its plans to “turbocharged” growth. In fact, Iger stated that 70% of the $60 billion Disney wants to invest in Experiences will be used for “incremental capacity-expanding” in the parks. That doesn’t sound very “turbo.”

Luckily, Iger shared that every park has been profitable this quarter. The company hit an all-time record in revenue, operating income, and operating margin in its Experiences department in the first quarter. People clearly are showing interest in the Disney parks. Now, it’s just up to Disney to bring something NEW to the table.

Click here to learn MORE about the latest announcements

After the earnings call, Disney’s stock was looking good. BofA analyst Jessica Reif Erlich noted, “In a little over a year since returning to the company as CEO, Bob Iger’s actions are already having an impact,” per Deadline. Although The Walt Disney Company has a long way to go in terms of meeting its goals, it seems like Disney is on the right track. Looking for more news from this earnings call? Check out our other posts below!

• Disney Made 10 BIG Announcements Today!
• Disney Shares BIG UPDATE on Park Expansions
• BREAKING: Disney Just Dropped a Trailer AND Release Date for ‘Moana 2’

We’re always here to keep you updated with the latest Disney news, so stay tuned to DFB!

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What do you think of these announcements? Tell us in the comments!