The Disney+ service lost 2.4 million subscribers in the last three months of 2022 – its first decline since launching in late 2020.
The drop in was bigger than analysts expected but was reportedly entirely driven by a 3.8 million decline in Disney+ Hotstar – the version of the service offered in India and parts of Southeast Asia where they lost the IPL cricket rights to Paramount. In the U.S., the subscriber count actually went up by 200,000.
The service stands at 161.8 million globally at the end of 2022. Domestically the Mouse House sits at 46.6 million subscribers for Disney+, 48 million for Hulu and 24.9 million for ESPN+.
The stats were revealed during the company’s quarterly update to investors where, thanks to a surge in revenue from Disney’s theme parks, its $23.51 billion in earnings still managed to top Wall Street estimates.
The quarter also marked Bob Iger’s first back in the CEO role which he returned to in November, and he says the company has a plan to get the streaming service back on track:
“We are embarking on a significant transformation, one that will maximize the potential of our world-class creative teams and our unparalleled brands and franchises. We believe the work we are doing to reshape our company around creativity while reducing expenses, will lead to sustained growth and profitability for our streaming business, better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges and deliver value for our shareholders.”
The call follows a report at Bloomberg the other day indicating Disney is exploring the possibility of licensing film and TV properties to rival media outlets, shifting from its current streaming strategy of keeping everything in-house. Executives have allegedly started shopping certain titles to third parties but could end up sold to Hulu.
The company continues to expect Disney+ to hit profitability in the fiscal year 2024.
Source: Variety
