Disney+ Reports 4 Million Global Subscriber Loss, Nearly All Coming from India; Total Base at 157.8 Million
Disney+ Reports 4 Million Global Subscriber Loss, Nearly All Coming from India; Total Base at 157.8 Million
The Walt Disney Company released its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday and revealed that between January and March, Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers worldwide, bringing the service’s worldwide total 157.8 million.
This was the first time Disney had reported its subscriber numbers since February when the company showed a subscriber loss for the first time. That dip brought its total to 161. 8 million global users.
Nearly all of those losses came from India, where Disney is still dealing with he decision to not retain the streaming rights for the Indian Premier Cricket league, opting instead for the traditional broadcast rights. domestically, Disney+ did see a slight decline of 300k customers, but maintained 46.3 subscribers in the United States and Canada. Internationally, outside of India’s Disney+ Hotstar service, the streamer grew by 900,000 subscribers to come in at 58.6M.
Disney’s other streaming service Hulu — Disney’s general entertainment streamer — reported having 48.2 million users, while ESPN+ — the sports-focused prong of the Disney streaming apparatus — now has 25.3 customers.
The numbers mean Disney’s flagship streamer trails only Netflix in terms of subscribers. Netflix remains the world’s largest standalone streaming service, with 232.5M users. Warner Bros. Discovery takes the third position on the list, with 97.6M streaming customers between HBO Max and discovery+. Peacock has 22M users now, and Paramount+ is currently sitting at 60M thanks to its first quarter additions. Neither Prime Video nor Apple TV+ report their subscriber totals publicly.
Disney’s biggest moves this quarter were internal, as it tries to right its streaming ship and curb huge losses from that segment of its company. That has included a change in corporate philosophy regarding how Disney approaches its streaming customers, and a reshuffling of executive positions that puts creatives back in charge of decision making.
From a content perspective, this has meant an increased focus on big-name franchises like Star Wars, Marvel and other successful intellectual properties. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has indicated this will mean fewer comics-themed shows on Disney+, with a special emphasis on quality over quantity going forward. The strategy also means that Disney’s animated films will get longer theatrical windows than they have in the past.
This new, revenue-building strategy from Disney will also include the potential of licensing shows and movies to other media outlets. Disney executives have confirmed they are open to this possibility, though the core franchises that have become so associated with the Disney brand will remain with the company.
Disney+ began offering more live content in the last quarter, though not in the United States. The company used its platform to stream the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony in five global territories. In fact, Disney+ is set to get less live content in 2023, at least less exclusive live content. The company announced in May that “Dancing With the Stars” would be moving back to ABC in 2023, after one season as a Disney+ exclusive.
Disney has been getting good news this quarter regarding its ad-supported tier. A report from March indicated that sign-ups to Disney+ Basic outpaced the ad-supported plans of both Netflix and HBO Max in its first month. Additionally, Disney+ Basic finally became available on Roku streaming devices for the first time in April, nearly four months after the plan first launched.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”