Buckle up, folks. Disney has just made some HUGE announcements, and we’ve got all the details you need to know right here.

On November 14th, 2024, Disney held its Earnings Call (and released its Earnings Report) for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024. These earnings calls and reports typically provide some big reveals about how the company is doing financially when it comes to the theme parks, Disney+, and more — and this earnings call/report was no exception. So, let’s dive into the updates YOU need to know about.

1 — Overall Financial Results

First, let’s look at the big picture. In terms of overall financial results for the Walt Disney Company as a whole this quarter, Disney CEO Bob Iger shared, “This was a pivotal and successful year for the Walt Disney Company, we have emerged from a period of considerable challenges and disruption well positioned for growth and optimistic about our future.”

Here’s a peek at the financial numbers:

• Revenues for the quarter: $22.6 billion, up 6% from prior-year quarter
• Diluted earnings per share: $0.25, up 79% from prior-year quarter
• Diluted earnings per share, excluding certain items: $1.14, up 39% from prior-year quarter

Iger continued his statement, and said, “Our solid performance in the fiscal fourth quarter reflected the success of our strategic efforts to improve quality, innovation, efficiency, and value creation. In Q4 we saw one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio, improved profitability in our streaming businesses, a record-breaking 60 Emmy Awards for the company, the continued power of live sports, and the unveiling of an impressive collection of new projects coming to our Experiences segment. As a result of our strategies and our focus on managing our businesses for both the near- and long-term, we are differentiating ourselves from traditional competitors, leveraging the deepest and broadest set of entertainment assets in the industry to drive attractive returns and further advance our goals.”

2 — Disney+ Updates

One of the biggest focuses when it comes to Disney’s finances is often Disney+ and Iger’s quest to make streaming profitable. During the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Disney discussed its streaming service price increases and more details surrounding the password crackdowns.

So how did things go this quarter? Well, Disney+ ended the quarter with 174 million Core and Hulu subscriptions and more than 120 million Disney+ Core paid subscribers, an increase of 4.4 million over the prior quarter. Streaming operating income increased to $321 million this quarter, compared to last year’s quarter the ended with a $387 million loss.

The Direct-to-Consumer (Disney+) revenues increased by 15% during Q4, which Disney attributes to higher effective rates due to increases in pricing, partially offset by an unfavorable foreign exchange impact. Additionally, there was an increase in advertising revenue to due higher impressions, lower marketing costs, higher technology and distribution costs, and more.

There have been several streaming updates lately — from canceled shows to new continuous playlists and more. We’ll continue to watch how this area of the company changes and develops in the coming months and years, so stay tuned for updates.

What’s It Gonna Take for Disney+ To FIX Its Content Problem? Click Here to Find Out

3 — Theme Park Updates

From the world of entertainment, let’s move on to theme parks, Disney Cruise Line, and merchandise (a.k.a. the Disney Experiences division).

During the 3rd quarter of fiscal year 2024, the division reported an overall increase in revenue, but operating income decreased compared to the same quarter in 2023. Demand for Disney’s domestic parks had actually been “flat.” One Disney executive explained that there were several factors at play including the stress felt by the lower-income consumer and the fact that higher-income consumers are traveling internationally a little more. Disney warned that there would be a continuation of those trends.

So…how did things go during this past quarter (Q3)?

Disney reports that the Experiences segment had “record revenue and operating income for the full year.” During Q4, Experiences revenue increased by $0.1 billion, or 1%, and operating income of $1.7 billion was a decline of $0.1 billion, or 6% compared to the prior-year quarter.

Disney explained some of the reasons for these results. Domestic Parks & Experiences operating income increased this quarter, with comparable attendance to the prior-year quarter. This was primarily driven by higher guest spending and was partially offset by higher expenses and costs related to new offerings from Disney Cruise Line.

Additionally, the increase in operating income at the domestic parks and experiences can be attributed to more per capita guest spending at the theme parks and on the cruise line, lower sales of Disney Vacation Club units, and higher costs primarily due to inflation, new guest offerings, higher operations support costs, and more.

Some of these costs were offset by the comparison to depreciation related to the closure of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel.

As far as the International Parks & Experiences are concerned, the operating income declined in the fourth quarter. Disney attributes these losses to declines in attendance and an increased cost due to new guest offerings and higher depreciation. As well, there has been a decrease in guest spending at the theme parks, but that was partially offset by an increase in per-room spending at the resorts.

Disney had previously warned that Q4 would be consistent with what was seen in Q3 in terms of “flat” demand for its domestic parks, and it seems as though that is the case here.

Between major changes to the Lightning Lane system at Disney World, refurbishments galore, and pending expansions teased for the parks, a LOT is going on in this division of the Company. We’ll be keeping you up to date on ALL the latest info — so stay tuned!

Click here for EVERYTHING we know about the major expansion planned for Magic Kingdom

4 — ESPN

Now let’s turn to ESPN. If you’re a fan of sports, you may have heard about Disney’s new sports streaming service — Venu — and the news that ESPN will get its own tile on Disney+ by the end of the year. But things got complicated for Venu earlier in 2024 when a federal judge blocked plans for the service to come to fruition. So what’s the latest update here?

The operating income for Disney’s sports segment of the business was $0.9 billion, a decline of $0.1 billion compared to the prior-year quarter. Domestic ESPN advertising revenue in Q4 grew 7% over the same time during Q4 of 2023. Disney attributes these losses to higher programming and production costs due to an increase in college football rights costs, partially offset by lower NFL rights costs as a result of airing one fewer game in the current quarter.

 

Disney is ramping up its focus on live sports with the “beginning of an exciting new era for ESPN.” But what does that mean?! Well, starting on December 4th, an ESPN tile is debuting within the Disney+ app that will allow sports fans an easier way to access their preferred entertainment. Even if you aren’t an ESPN+ subscriber, you’ll still be able to access this content on Disney+.

Click here to read about Venu

5 — MORE

It was a great year for Disney at the box office as well. Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine broke multiple box office records and helped drive $316 million in operating income at Content Sales/Licensing and Other in Q4.

Disney also reported that operating income was “adversely impacted” by approximately $130 million due to Hurricanes Helene and Miltion, and approximately $90 million due to Disney Cruise Line pre-launch costs.

That’s a basic look at how the Walt Disney Company is doing now in its main divisions. We’ll continue to update this post with more info from the earnings call/report as we go through that, so check back for any updates. Stay tuned to DFB for ALL the latest Disney news.

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What news from this earnings call/report were you most surprised by? Tell us in the comments.