Disney+ Loses 1.3 Million Customers Worldwide; Streaming Revenue up 15% Year-Over-Year
Disney’s fiscal fourth quarter of 2023 was a critical one for the company. It was the first time in months that Disney managed to add streaming subscribers, as it gained 7 million customers on its flagship service Disney+. The company unveiled its first quarter 2024 earnings on Feb. 7 — Disney’s corporate calendar puts it three months ahead of most other companies — and the report showed that Disney+ had lost 1.3 million subscribers, putting its new total at 149.6 million.
In the United States and Canada, Disney+ now has 46.1 subscribers, down from the 46.5 million it reported at the end of its fiscal fourth quarter. Internationally, outside of India, the streamer lost 900,000 customers; it also saw continuing declines from its Indian segment Disney+ Hotstar, which lost 700,000 customers. Disney+ Hotstar has been losing subscribers ever since Disney lost out on the rights to Indian Premier League cricket. Disney is expected to close a sale divesting itself of majority ownership in its Indian operations this month.
Disney+’s general entertainment companion streamer Hulu added 1.2 million customers, totaling 45.1 for its on-demand service and 4.6 more on its live TV streamer Hulu + Live TV, bringing the total to 49.7 million. The company’s sports-centered streaming service ESPN+ now has 25.2 million customers, a loss of 800,000.
From a revenue perspective, Disney+ saw a 9% increase in ARPU (average revenue per user) in the United States and Canada. The streamer’s ARPU went from $7.50 to $8.15. Internationally, outside of India, the platform’s ARPU dropped from $6.10 to $5.91. However, Disney+ Hotstar in India saw an increase from $0.70 to $1.28, and 83% increase.
How Does Disney+’s Subscriber Total Compare to Competitors?
Disney+ is still behind Netflix, which now claims 260.28 million streaming customers worldwide. Even when combined with Hulu and ESPN+, Disney accounts for 224.5 million total streaming subscribers (not accounting for redundancies caused by the Disney Bundle).
Netflix is the only streaming service that Disney+ can’t beat out, however. Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services Max and discovery+ have just over 95 million customers as reported in November, the last time it revealed its quarterly earnings. Paramount Global has not yet revealed its earnings data for the fourth quarter of 2023 either, but at its last report it had 63 million customers on Paramount+. Peacock is firmly behind the biggest streamers in the market, as it now tallies 30 million paid subscribers.
Neither Amazon’s Prime Video nor Apple TV+ reveal their subscriber data publicly.
What Are Disney+’s Biggest Stories of the Quarter?
The period between the start of October and the end of December was a busy one for Disney+. It handed down another price increase for all ad-free subscribers on Oct. 12, its second in less than a year. The move was designed to help boost the amount of revenue per user Disney collects from its streaming subscribers as it continues to chase streaming profitability.
Another huge story for Disney during the quarter was its agreement with Comcast on the details for the sale process of Comcast’s stake in Hulu. The sale is not yet complete, but Disney and Comcast both agreed to the framework under which the process will be finalized; Disney will pay at least $8.6 billion for Comcast’s 33% of Hulu, and potentially more depending on what valuation independent bankers assign to Hulu.
That news was announced in November, and Disney moved fast to merge Hulu content onto Disney+. Hulu titles first became available to subscribers of both services on Disney+ in early December, as part of a public beta test. Hulu on Disney+ will officially launch this upcoming March with a wider selection of titles than are currently available.
During the quarter, Disney CEO Bob Iger warned subscribers that rules against password sharing were still coming to Disney streaming services, despite a lack of action on that front up until then. His words were borne out last week, when Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ all updated their subscriber agreements to officially forbid account sharing.
Disney generated quite a bit of buzz around summer of 2023 by indicating that its linear channels, including flagship channels like ABC and even potentially ESPN could be sold. But that talk has died down recently, as in November Iger hosted a townhall for Disney employees, during which he called its linear channels “pretty important” parts of the company.
Internationally, Disney made plenty of streaming news during the quarter. The company decided to merge Disney+ and Star+ in Latin American territories in December, in a move that will take place this year. As mentioned above, Disney alsoagreed to a deal for the sale of a majority stake of its Indian Star business, including Disney+ Hotstar.
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.”