Disney+ Ups Quarterly Subs More Than 5% to 159 Million, Operating Income Reaches $253 Million
November 14, 2024
The Walt Disney Co. Nov. 14 reported that Disney+ ended the fourth quarter (Sept. 28) with 158.6 million global subscribers, up 5.5% from 150.2 million subs in the prior-year period.
The tally included 122.7 million core U.S. and Canadian subscribers, up 8.9% from 112.6 million subs last year. Disney+ Hotstar subs in India declined about 5% to 35.9 million from 37.6 million a year ago.
Hulu subscribers increased 7.9% to 47.4 million, from 43.9 million a year ago. Hulu + Live TV increased paid subscribers remained unchanged at 4.6 million.
Overall direct-to-consumer segment operating income increased to $253 million from revenue of $5.78 billion, compared with an operating loss of $420 million on revenue of $5 billion a year ag0.
For the fiscal year, DTC posted operating income of $134 million on revenue of $24.9 billion, compared with an operating loss of $2.6 billion on revenue of $21.9 billion a year earlier.
Separately, the ESPN+ streaming service reported 25.6 million paid subscribers, down 2% from 26 million subs in the prior-year period.
“Our solid performance in the fiscal fourth quarter reflected the success of our strategic efforts to improve quality, innovation, efficiency, and value creation,” CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.
On the fiscal call, Iger said that 60% of all new Disney+ subscribers have opted for the less-expensive ad-supported tier, including 37% in the U.S. and 30% globally (excluding India).
Iger added that recent Disney+ price hikes were actually a strategy to move more subscribers to the ad-supported tier to increase ad revenue.
“So, the pricing that we recently put into place…was actually designed to move more people in the AVOD direction, because we know the [the average revenue per user], and interest in it from advertisers in streaming has grown,” he said.
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