The Walt Disney Company just held its earnings call for the fourth and final quarter of fiscal year 2024, and we learned quite a bit about just how the company is doing financially.
Mickey Mouse
Between the parks and Disney Cruise Line, streaming services, and other aspects of the company, Disney reported having “record revenue and operating income for the full year.” But, all that extra money has to come from somewhere and someone — and boy, do we have some news for you.
During the fourth quarter earnings call, Disney revealed that the company had “record revenue and operating income for the full year,” and after looking into it, it’s easy to see why. Operating income for Disney’s domestic parks increased by 5% year over year, and much of that can be attributed to the fans and park guests.
Magic Kingdom
Disney said the increase in operating income is partially due to an increase in guest spending at the theme parks and on cruises, offset by higher costs due to inflation, new guest offerings, increased technology spending, and higher operations support costs. Still, that means Disney is making enough money to still make a profit despite these higher costs — and that’s likely because we’re simply spending more in the parks.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
With so much growth and investment planned for the parks, current Disney CFO Hugh Johnston believes Disney’s financial predictions are modeled “reasonably conservatively,” as they are based on increased pricing and increased capacity. He continued that more park price increases are coming next year.
This is nothing new, as we typically see Disney raise prices in the parks a couple of times per year — most recently in October.
Hollywood Studios
Disney feels “positively” about the future and believes that “the consumer is strengthening” based on the growth they saw in this quarter. The company’s expectation going forward is to see a “gradual strengthening.”
But, it’s not just the parks where Disney expects you’ll spend more.
EPCOT
Since Disney+ premiered, we’ve seen multiple price increases for the subscription service along with the introduction of advertisements on the platform and tiered subscriptions.
©Disney
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 which ended with a $387 million loss.
Not only that, but Disney+ reported an increase in advertising revenue due to higher impressions, lower marketing costs, higher technology and distribution costs, and more. We also learned that more price increases are coming for the streaming service in 2025.
©Disney
During the earnings call, Johnston remarked that Disney+ actually wants to move subscribers to the advertising tier — presumably to increase revenue from ads — and that price increases are designed to move people to the lower-priced tier, where the advertisements are aired.
Instead of introducing ads to the low tier so that folks pay more for the higher-priced, ad-free tiers, Disney is hoping you’ll be discouraged by the high price and stick to the lower-priced tier, where you’ll be shown advertisements.
©Disney
Just how much more we’ll be paying to visit the Disney parks and stream our favorite content on Disney+ remains to be seen, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated on any announcements.
In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for the latest updates from the Walt Disney Company and more — make sure you stay tuned to DFB so you don’t miss a thing!
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So, Disney execs openly admitted that their strategy is to price people out of the best experience, forcing them to accept a lesser-quality product, which will still make the company more money.
Well played.
But, as a life-long fan and consumer, I’m getting pretty tired of this game – being treated like a pawn to be continually sacrificed to protect the stockholder, whom shall always be king.
They’re making record profits and still raising prices across the board. And they wonder why people are getting fed up! I used to go to WDW 1-2 times a year. Now I’ll probably only go once every 5 years or so. I have more reasonable places to spend my money.