In the first quarter of 2024, the Walt Disney Company’s fiscal Q2, Disney’s direct-to-consumer business nearly broke even for the first time since Disney+ was born. From April to June, streaming profitability was finally reached, one quarter earlier than CEO Bob Iger himself had promised.
Channing Tatum Says Zoë Kravitz's 'Blink Twice' Doesn't Feel Like a Directorial Debut
Disney+ added just 700,000 subscribers during the second calendar quarter of the year, Disney’s fiscal third quarter, according to financial documents released on Wednesday. It had added 6.3 million subs in its second quarter. Disney+ now has 118.3 million subscribers, not counting India.
The company says it expects Disney+ subscribers to “grow modestly” this summer. It expects streaming profits to grow, and that its entertainment streamers and ESPN+ will both be profitable. We get less and less information about ESPN+ these days.
Hulu added 900,000 subs in the quarter; it now has 51.1 million subscribers. Disney+ Hotstar, which is basically Disney+ in India, lost 500,000 subscribers. It now has 35.5 million.
The company’s ARPU (average revenue per user) generally decreased across streaming in the reported quarter.
But Disney beat Wall Street’s forecast for its top and bottom lines. Collectively, media analysts expected Disney to post earnings of $1.09 per share on $21.14 billion in revenue. The company reported adjusted EPS of $1.39 on $23.2 billion in revenue. Its operating income jumped 19 percent to $4.225 billion.
It wasn’t all “Inside Out 2” — but much of it was.
TIFF Launches Season's Top Nonfiction, with New Docs from R.J. Cutler, Raoul Peck, and More
“Inside Out 2” was the big theatrical release in the April-June quarter — hell, it is by far the biggest movie of 2024 to-date — though a significant chunk of ticket sales will show up on the next quarterly earnings report. The sequel to 2015’s “Inside Out” ended up generating more than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office and its $627 million domestic haul is the best ever for a G/PG-rated movie, not counting inflation.
As a matter of fact, probably the only film that could catch “Inside Out 2” in calendar 2024 is “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the (very) R-rated Marvel (owned by Disney!) movie that is off to a (very) hot start . (Yes, Disney has everything from G to a hard R handled.) The “Deadpool 3” haul will be reflected in Disney’s fiscal Q4’s financials.
May’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” a franchise that came to Disney along with 20th in the Fox deal, also performed well in the Wednesday-reported quarter with nearly $400 million in theatrical revenue.
In terms of streaming TV, Star Wars series “The Acolyte” did fine, but not incredible. Acquired kids program “Bluey” continued to kill it for Disney+ and the usual Fox animated series (for grownups) kept Hulu busy.
On Tuesday, Disney announced it would again raise the prices for its streaming services in October.
Most Popular
Comments / 0