In the third fiscal quarter, which ended July 2, Disney + added 14.4 million subscribers, for a total of 152.1 million.
The announcement was made by the Walt Disney Company during its earnings report on Wednesday.
The expectations of Wall Street analysts who expected an average increase of 10 million subscribers for the quarter were beaten.
It experienced modest growth in the United States and Canada, adding about 100,000 subscribers for a total of 44.5 million in the quarter, up from 44.4 million in the second quarter. An increase of 17% over the previous year. Disney + ‘s international subscriptions , excluding Disney + Hotstar , grew from 87.6 million to 93.6 million.
While Disney + Hotstar – available in India and Southeast Asia – recorded an increase of 8.3 million, reaching 58.4 million. Core Disney + generated an average monthly revenue per subscriber of $ 6.29 (+ 3% over the previous year), compared with Disney + Hotstar ‘s $ 1.20 (+ 54%).
Total Disney Subscribers
The total number of global subscribers across all Disney platforms , including Disney + , Hulu , and ESPN + , is 221 million. In July, the company surpassed Netflix ‘s 220.7 million . Disney did not disclose how many of these subscribers come from the bundles, however.
Year-on-year, ESPN + subscribers increased 53% to 22.8 million, up from the previous 22.3 million.
The US -only Hulu service grew at a slower rate of 8% year-on-year to 46.2 million, up from 45.6 million in the second quarter. Of these 4.0 million live on TV, in line with the previous quarter.
Disney + Hotstar
The streaming platform, formerly known only as Hotstar , has entered into an exclusive partnership with Disney and Disney + Hotstar is currently the most popular OTT service in India. It is also the only major streaming platform to offer access to live sports like cricket and football.
The loss of streaming rights to cricket’s Indian Premiere League prompted Walt Disney Co. to reduce its subscription target for its Disney + Hotstar service in India and Southeast Asia.
Disney’s chief financial officer Christine McCarthy also revealed during a conference call with Wall Street analysts about the company’s fiscal third quarter that subscriber updates and goal predictions for Disney + Hotstar will be released separately by Disney + .
Partly because Disney + Hotstar is a different service that includes sports rights and other content not featured on Disney + in other territories.
This prompted the company to adjust its total global subscriptions target for Disney + , with an implicit downward revision: between 215 million and 245 million global subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024, which is September 2024 versus the 230 million-260 million previously declared.
Disney also said the target for Disney + subscribers (excluding Disney + Hotstar ) remains in line with previous forecasts of 135 million – 165 million by the end of fiscal year 2024.
Performance
The company noted strong performance not only from Disney +, but also through the turnout at theme parks and the box office. Chapek
said in a statement:
“We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and commercial teams delivering outstanding performance in our national theme parks, a large increase in live sports viewers, and significant growth in subscribers to our entertainment services. streaming.
We continue to transform entertainment as we approach our second century, with compelling new stories across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, which is reflected in our strong operating results this quarter. “
Disney Linear Networks also had a strong quarter, in part due to the NBA Finals that took place this summer. Revenues increased 3% to $ 7.2 billion and operating income increased 13% to $ 2.5 billion.
Revenue
Exceeding analysts’ expectations, the company achieved total revenue in the last quarter of $ 21.5 billion, up 26% from the previous year ($ 19.2 billion).
Net income was up 53%, to $ 1.4 billion, translating into adjusted earnings of $ 1.09 per share. Wall Street analysts , on average, had expected Disney revenue of $ 20.62 billion and earnings of $ 1.00 per share, according to data from Refinitiv .
Both in the US and overseas, Disney parks recorded an astonishing turnout in the last quarter, with revenues of $ 7.4 billion compared to $ 4.3 billion the previous year. A 70% increase in revenues was recorded in the parks, experiences and products segment.
Disney ‘s direct-to-consumer revenue was $ 5.06 billion, up 19%, below Wall Street’s expectations of $ 5.2 billion, according to FactSet . The operating loss for the DTC segment increased to $ 1.06 billion, compared to $ 293 million in the prior period and $ 0.8 billion the previous year.
Disney shares surged nearly 6% in after-hours trading, the regular session closed at $ 112.43 with a 20% rise in the past month.