The number of subscribers to Disney Plus declined for the second consecutive quarter, losing four million in the last three months. The decline is almost entirely due to Disney Hotshot, its Indian streaming service, which lost the rights to stream the Indian Premier League in 2022.
But the company's flagship online service, Disney+, lost subscribers for the second straight quarter because of soft results from its direct-to-consumer product in India. Disney+ lost a total of 4 million subscribers during the three months that ended April 1, the Burbank entertainment giant said Wednesday.
Record Decline: Why Disney+ Lost Another 4 Million Subscribers.
Despite pushing promotions to bring more guests to their parks, Disney's high prices are cutting into attendance numbers. According to The Disney History Institute podcast, June park attendance is predicted to drop by at least 20%.
In the second quarter of 2023, the number of global Disney+ subscribers dropped for the second time since it launched in November 2019 to 157.8 million. This marked a decline of four million compared with the previous quarter as the Indian brand Disney+ Hotstar, in particular, reported subscribers losses.
Most of the lost subscribers came from Disney+ Hotstar in India after the company lost streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches.
On May 26, Disney pulled shows like The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Y: The Last Man, The Mighty Ducks, Turner & Hooch, Willow, Maggie, Dollface and the 2022 Cheaper By the Dozen off of its streaming services.
Disney announced its Q1 2023 earnings today, reporting a total of 161.8 million Disney+ global subscribers, a decrease of 2.4 million subs from 164.2 million in the previous quarter. This is the streamer's first subscriber loss since launching in 2019.
Disney's stock has been down 50% in the last two years while the market is flat. Iger replaced Bob Chapek in November 2022, but the two-year-old slide covers the period during which Iger restructured Disney. In the most recently reported quarter, Disney segment operating revenue rose 8% to $21.8 billion.
There are six Disney resorts in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and China with a total of twelve parks.
The loss of cricket means the company may now have trouble reaching its goal of 260 million global Disney+ subscribers. Walt Disney Co. could lose as many as 20 million of its Disney+ subscribers after being outbid for the streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches this week.
Total subscribers: There will be around 251 million Netflix users in 2023, an 8.8% user growth from 2022.
1. Netflix. With over 232 million subscribers to its name as of the first quarter of 2023, Netflix remains the most popular streaming service.
We've learned via ScreenRant that one of the biggest reasons to remove a title is due to licensing fees. Those fees are paid to the owners of that content and they end up being the primary cost for streaming services. That means when Disney removes shows, they can save money by not having to pay those licensing fees.
The decline is almost entirely due to Disney Hotshot, its Indian streaming service, which lost the rights to stream the Indian Premier League in 2022. While it may look bad for Disney Plus to be in decline, outside of Hotstar it has continued to grow its subscriber count, albeit it at a slower rate.
Disney is likely preparing to remove more content from Disney+ as part of the company's cost-cutting measures. Last month, Disney removed a handful of shows from Disney+ and Hulu, including Willow, The Mysterious Benedict Society, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, and a lot more.
The number of Disney employees dropped to 190,000 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, amid a major furlough of workers as theme parks, and much of the world, remained closed. Many Cast Members were laid off during park closures, and while some were called back to work, others lost their jobs permanently.
Disney has faced its fair share of backlash from prominent figures too, with DeSantis, Donald Trump and conservative social media presence Jordan Peterson all speaking out against the House of Mouse. Fears that Disney has "gone woke" have existed for almost a year now.
Walt Disney Company: global quarterly revenue 2010-2023
In the second quarter of 2023, The Walt Disney Company generated about 21.82 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, up 13 percent from the same quarter of the previous year.
Disney Plus
It's the only place where you can stream the vast majority of the Disney and Pixar libraries, along with every Star Wars movie, Marvel films and new original TV shows, National Geographic content and 30-plus seasons of The Simpsons.
Price: Disney Plus Costs Less, But Netflix Has More Options
Basic with Ads plan doesn't give you access to the entire Netflix catalog. Premium plan required for 4K streaming and 4 screens. Bundle with your mobile or cable bill to save money.
The interface is a bit buggy. You will see titles you want to watch and you have to click on them before finding out the title is not available yet. Another potential issue is the rumor that some titles already have expiration dates set.
Walt Disney Co. will record a $1.5 billion expense related to programming it's removing from the Disney+ streaming platform. The expense is part of a previously announced plan to write down some programming, the company said in a filing Friday, and will be recorded in the current fiscal third quarter.