Disney+ Lost 700,000 Subscribers from October-December
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More like Disney Minus, amirite?Disney+ lost 700,000 subscribers over the final three months of 2024, which is the Walt Disney Companys first quarter of fiscal year 2025. Not counting Disney+ Hotstar, the cheap Disney+ service in India, Disney+ now has 124.6 million subs.ESPN+ also lost 700,000 subs in the period. Hulu was the streaming highlight, adding 1.6 million subscribers; it now has 53.6 million. All told, the companys streaming business was profitable for its third-straight quarter. So it wasnt all bad or unexpected. Disney anticipated the Q1 2025 loss of Disney+ subscribers, and now, it is forecasting another modest decline in subs for calendar 2025. Its a far cry from the 4.4 million subscribers Disney+ added from June through September 2024. Blame price hikes and the expiration of certain promotions.Wall Street expected Disney would report Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.43 on $24.55 billion in revenue, per a consensus estimate compiled by Yahoo Finance. Disney posted adjusted EPS of $1.76 on $24.7 billion in revenue, beating both key financial metrics with the help of those adjustments.Financially, things were A-OK especially at the studios. Moana 2 alone made more than $1 billion theatrically; in a prepared statement accompanying the financials, Disney CEO Bob Iger was all, Can I Get a Chee Hoo?Our results this quarter demonstrate Disneys creative and financial strength as we advanced the strategic initiatives set in motion over the past two years, Iger said. In fiscal Q1 we saw outstanding box office performance from our studios, which had the top three movies of 2024; we further improved the profitability of our Entertainment DTC streaming businesses; we took an important step to advance ESPNs digital strategy by adding an ESPN tile on Disney+; and our Experiences segment demonstrated its enduring appeal as we continue investing strategically across the globe. Overall, this quarter proved to be a strong start to the fiscal year, and we remain confident in our strategy for continued growth.Disney is #1 among all media companies in terms of total TV usage, according to Nielsen and only YouTube is particularly close. The biggest and most consistent performers across Disney+ and Hulu include Bluey, Greys Anatomy, and Foxs Animation Domination shows. Specific to the reported quarter, ABC and ESPN split the spoils from Monday Night Football. For Disney+, holiday classics like Home Alone and Hocus Pocus charted, and Novembers streaming premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine was a hit. Even considering inflation, the sequel to 2016s Moana made hundreds of millions of dollars more than its predecessor. (The original Moana was the most-streamed movie of 2024, per Nielsen.) Moana 2 was originally intended to be a Disney+ series, so good call to whoever upgraded that plan.Mufasa: The Lion King didnt have quite the same momentum. The prequel story, released in theaters five days before Christmas, made $650 million worldwide not Moana 2 money, but not bad for another trip to that IP well. The OG Lion King animated film in 1994 and its CG remake in 2019 both made far more.Searchlights A Complete Unknown starring Timothe Chalamet as Bob Dylan was released theatrically on Christmas Day. Its success will be measured more in Oscars (March 2 on Disneys ABC and Hulu!) than in dollars.
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