The Walt Disney Company’s streaming business has reached profitability for the first time. The news was announced with the company’s third quarter FY24 earnings report.
Disney Streaming Profitability
Disney’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming — including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — made a revenue of $6.4 billion. Profit was $47 million. For comparison, in Q3 FY23, Disney’s DTC streaming lost $512 million.
“This was a strong quarter for Disney, driven by excellent results in our Entertainment segment both at the box office and in DTC, as we achieved profitability across our combined streaming businesses for the first time and a quarter ahead of our previous guidance,” said CEO Bob Iger.
Despite streaming overall being profitable, Disney+ and Hulu actually lost money, with ESPN+ turning the profit. ESPN saw a revenue of $4.28 billion, a 5% increase.
The average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for domestic Disney+ decreased from $8 to $7.74. The average increased for international Disney+ (excluding Disney+ Hotstar) from $6.66 to $6.78 due to increases in retail pricing. Hotstar’s average increased from $0.70 to $1.05 due to higher advertising revenue. HULU SVOD and Hulu Live TV + SVOD also saw increases.
Disney+ has reached approximately 54.8 million subscribers domestically and 63.5 million internationally (118.3 million total), not including Disney+ Hotstar, which has 35.5 million subs. Subscriber numbers have only slightly increased, although Disney+ Hotstar lost about half a million subscribers. Disney expects Disney+ Core subscribers to grow modestly in the next quarter.
Disney+ is increasing subscription prices this fall.
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