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Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees

Disney’s first quarter with CEO Bob Iger back in command isn’t looking so good. Disney announced its Q1 2023 earnings today, reporting a total of 161.8 million Disney+ global subscribers, a decrease of 2.4 million subs from 164.2 million in the previous quarter. This is the streamer’s first subscriber loss since launching in 2019.
The drop in Disney+ subscribers was mainly driven by a decrease in Disney+ Hotstar subscribers. The international streaming service, available in India and parts of Southeast Asia, saw a decline of 3.8 million subscribers, down from 61.3 million subs in the previous quarter.
On the semi-positive side, Disney+ gained 200,000 domestic subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
The results put Disney+’s 2024 target into question. Disney+ plans to reach 215 million-245 million subs by 2024, which could see streaming king Netflix, with over 230 million global subscribers, lose its crown. However, it’s looking like Netflix can relax — at least for now.
Notably, Iger announced during today’s earnings call that Disney will no longer provide subscriber addition guidance, the same move that Netflix recently made.
The subscriber loss comes on the heels of the company increasing the subscription price of its Disney+ ad-free plan to $11 per month in tandem with its new $7.99 ad-supported tier. For that reason, analysts were actually expecting a larger loss of 3 million subs, so today’s news is not entirely bad from that perspective.
Disney’s other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, had a decent quarter, gaining 800,000 subscribers and 600,000 subscribers, respectively. Hulu now has 48 million subscribers, and ESPN+ has 24.9 million.
Disney also reported an increase in revenue for the quarter, citing $23.51 billion, just barely beating expectations of $23.33 billion. Last quarter, Disney reported $20.15 billion in revenue. In addition, its operating loss among the direct-to-consumer segment narrowed, losing $1.1 billion versus $1.5 billion in Q4 2022. Disney plans to save $5.5 billion in costs.
As part of Disney’s effort to make its streaming business profitable, Iger revealed during today’s earnings call that the company is planning a significant restructuring, including job cuts. The layoffs will affect 7,000 employees. The company froze new hiring in November.
“I have enormous respect and appreciate for the dedication of our employees worldwide,” Iger said during the call. “While this is necessary to address the challenges we face today, I do not make this decision lightly.”
There have been rumblings in the media that Disney may be exploring the sale of licensing rights for its films and TV series to its competitors in a desperate attempt to combat streaming losses. If the rumor turns out to be true, this would be a significant change in strategy since Disney is known to keep much of its original programming exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was the most recent major media company to license its shows in order to gain revenue. WBD struck deals with Roku and Tubi to license 2,000 hours of movies and TV shows, including “Westworld,” which was pulled from HBO Max in December.

Disney+ reaches 164.2M subscribers as it prepares for ad-supported tier launch

Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees

Disney+ ad-supported plan is currently unavailable on Roku devices

On Thursday, Disney+ launched its first-ever ad-supported plan, “Disney+ Basic,” in the U.S. at $7.99 per month, which is the same price as the previous ad-free plan before Disney raised the price to $10.99/month. However, Roku users wanting to switch to the new plan are out of luck — at least for now.
According to Disney Plus’s support website, the ad-supported tier is “not currently available on Roku devices.” It’s also not available on the Microsoft Windows desktop app, the site informs. So, at the moment, U.S. subscribers with Disney+ Basic or Disney Bundles like Disney Bundle Duo Basic (Disney+ Basic and Hulu’s ad plan) or Trio Basic (Disney+ Basic, Hulu’s ad plan and ESPN+) are unable to stream on Roku or Windows.
Disney told TechCrunch that it is still in talks with Roku about reaching an agreement that suits both parties. It’s our guess that the dispute is over an ad-share agreement as, by default, channels must enter an ad revenue split with Roku. Disney, however, declined to provide specifics. Roku also declined to comment on the negotiations.
Roku has cemented itself as the top smart TV platform in the United States. So, it’s a major disadvantage for Disney+ not to have its new ad-supported tier available on Roku devices at launch.
Netflix ran into a similar problem when it launched its ad-supported plan a month ago.
At the time, Netflix told TechCrunch that, at launch, support for its “Basic with Ads” plan wasn’t available on tvOS devices but would be coming soon. According to Netflix’s support website, it’s still unavailable on Apple TV as well as PlayStation 3 consoles.

Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix

Disney+ ad-supported plan is currently unavailable on Roku devices by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ ad-supported plan is currently unavailable on Roku devices

Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix

The day has arrived. Today, Disney+ launched its ad-supported tier, “Disney+ Basic,” at $7.99/month. The plan is currently only available in the U.S. and will become available in other countries sometime next year.
Image Credits: Disney+
“Today’s launch marks a milestone moment for Disney+ and puts consumer choice at the forefront. With these new ad-supported offerings, we’re able to deliver greater flexibility for consumers to enjoy the full breadth and depth of incredible storytelling from The Walt Disney Company,” Michael Paull, president of Direct to Consumer, said in a statement.
Netflix has its work cut out for it if it wants to compete successfully with Disney+’s new ad-supported tier. For instance, Disney+ Basic not only lets viewers stream high-quality video, including Full HD, HDR10, 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision and Expanded Aspect Ratio with IMAX Enhanced, but it also lets subscribers stream on up to four supported devices simultaneously. Plus, the ad plan includes Disney+’s full content catalog.
Netflix’s ad-supported plan, on the other hand, only supports 720p HD video quality, subscribers can only stream on one device at the same time and around 5% to 10% of Netflix’s content library is missing due to licensing restrictions.
Neither Disney+ Basic nor Netflix’s “Basic with ads” plan allows offline viewing or downloads.
Other features not included in the Disney+ Basic plan at launch are GroupWatch, SharePlay and Dolby Atmos. A Disney spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company hopes to support this in the future, but the exact timing is unknown.
Ads will range from 15 to 30 or 45 seconds long, the spokesperson added. As we previously reported, Disney+ is limiting the total ad load to an average of four minutes of commercials an hour. Preschool content has zero ads.
Image Credits: Disney+
Also, the company revised the Disney Bundle. The Disney Bundle Duo (Disney+ Basic and Hulu’s ad plan) will cost $9.99/month. There’s also the Disney Bundle Trio Basic (Disney+ Basic, Hulu’s ad plan and ESPN+) will be $12.99/month and the Disney Bundle Trio Premium is priced at $19.99/month.
Alongside the launch, Disney+ increased the price of its Premium ad-free subscription to $10.99/month, up from $7.99. So while it may seem that Disney+ is launching a cheaper tier, the reality is that subscribers will have to pay the same price for a plan that will now get ads.
Research firm Kantar found that 23% of existing Disney+ subscribers plan to switch to the new tier, Deadline reported. That means more than 37 million subscribers could choose to pay the same price they always have but for an arguably “downgraded” subscription plan.
Hulu, the Disney-owned streaming service, also got a price hike, along with the Disney Bundle and Hulu Live TV.

Disney is increasing the price of its ad-free Disney+ subscription to $10.99

The main reason Disney+ launched its ad-supported tier was to open up its streaming service to new subscribers. Disney previously said that the new tier will keep the company on track to reach its target of 230-260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024. The streamer reported an impressive total of 164.2 million global subscribers in Q4 2022, which includes 46.4 million domestic subscribers.
Also, Disney’s direct-to-consumer division lost $1.5 billion, so the ad-supported tier is a potential new revenue stream for the company. The streaming giant boasted in today’s announcement that Disney+ Basic is launching with over 100 advertisers.
“Today, we welcome Disney+ with ads to the largest, most diverse and impactful portfolio in the industry. We are committed to connecting our clients to the best storytelling in the world while delivering innovation and viewer-first experience in streaming now and in the future,” said Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising.

Disney+ is getting an ad-supported subscription tier later this year

Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier to compete with Netflix

‘Hamilton’ gives Disney+ a holiday weekend bump in US, with app downloads up 74%

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The much-anticipated addition of “Hamilton” seems to have paid off for Disney+. According to new data from app store analytics firm Apptopia, Disney’s streaming service saw a big jump in downloads over the July 4 holiday weekend in the U.S., following the worldwide debut of “Hamilton” on Friday, July 3rd. Between Friday and Sunday, that translated to over half a million new global downloads (752K+) for the Disney+ mobile app, excluding India and Japan. Some 458K+ of those downloads were in the U.S, the firm estimated.
These figures represent a 46.6% increase over the average seen during the previous four weekends in June (Friday through Sunday), Apptopia noted. But the numbers don’t include India or Japan as Disney+ is streamed via Hotstar in the former; and in the latter via a partnership with NTT Docomo through an existing service that later transitioned to Disney+.
Image Credits: Apptopia
The download figures also represented a 74% increase over the four prior weekends in June, in the U.S, indicating that a significant amount of interest in “Hamilton,” not surprisingly — given its “founding fathers” subject matter — comes from U.S. subscribers.
Notably, these downloads represent paid subscribers, not free trial users, as Disney+ ended its free week-long trial offering back in June. 
Rival firm Sensor Tower estimates a slightly different “Hamilton”-related bump for Disney+. During the week of June 29 to July 5, downloads spiked 64% over the week prior, Yahoo reported. Its preliminary estimates for July 3-5 put installs at 1 million across all available markets.
Image Credits: Apptopia
Apptopia also found that “Hamilton” represented the biggest content launch of all of 2020, so far, in terms of downloads. That means it also outpaced the streaming launch of “Frozen 2,” which arrived while consumers were under coronavirus lockdowns. It was also bigger than “Onward,” “Artemis Fowl,” and others, the firm found.
Image Credits: Disney
Of course, mobile download numbers don’t provide a full picture of how many signed up just for “Hamilton.” Many of the new Disney+ subscribers likely only signed up via a TV app and have yet to download the mobile companion.
If Roku’s online channel store offered a “top charts” section with rankings, we would have another window into Disney+ popularity given its status as a top streaming device and TV maker in the U.S. But it’s worth pointing out that Roku’s user base has given the Disney+ app a 4.3-star rating across 1,55,006 total reviews. For comparison, Netflix has 3,675,383 reviews — which shows how quickly the still relatively new service Disney+ is gaining on the market leader.
In May, Disney announced its streaming service had grown from 33.5 million subscribers as of March 28 to 54.4 million Disney+ subscribers as of May 4.
The service appeals to those who follow Disney’s top brands like Star Wars and Marvel, for example, but it’s also found a lot of growth among families who now more than ever need content to keep kids entertained amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has limited families’ usual activities and kept kids indoors.  At the $6.99 per month price point (or $69.99/yr), it’s one of the more affordable streaming services available.
Updated 7/6/20 3 PM ET: Apptopia revised its estimates this afternoon to indicate a larger increase of 74%, not 72.4% as the earlier headline stated. We’ve updated the article with its most recent data as well as the firm’s latest estimates on downloads. We’ll continue to update if newer numbers arrive. 

‘Hamilton’ gives Disney+ a holiday weekend bump in US, with app downloads up 74%

Disney+ Hotstar has about 8 million subscribers

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We finally know just about how many subscribers Hotstar has amassed over the years in India. “Approximately 8 million.”
Disney said on Wednesday that its eponymous streaming service now has over 50 million subscribers, nearly 8 million of whom are in India, where it launched its service atop Hotstar less than a week ago.
Five-year-old Hotstar is the most popular on-demand streaming service in India with more than 300 million users. The service and its operator, Indian network Star India, were picked up by Disney as part of its $71 billion deal with Fox last year.
For years, people in the industry have been curious about Hotstar’s premium subscriber base — to no luck. Most estimates have suggested it had about 1.5 million to 2 million subscribers. Executives at rival firms have expected that figure to be lower.
In fact, a months-long analysis conducted by one streaming firm in India concluded recently that there were 2 million paying subscribers for music and video services. So 8 million is a huge milestone.
But ARPU that Disney will clock from these 8 million subscriber is going to be far lower. Disney+ Hotstar is available in India at a yearly subscription cost of about $20. (That’s the revised subscription cost. Prior to Disney+’s launch in India, Hotstar charged about $13.) The service also offers a lower-cost tier that costs less than $5.5 a year.
And for that $20 a year, subscribers of Disney+ Hotstar get access to a wide-ranging catalog that includes access to Disney Originals in English as well as several local languages, live sporting events, dozens of TV channels, and thousands of movies and shows, including some sourced from HBO, Showtime, ABC and Fox that maintain syndication partnerships with the Indian streaming service.
“I think everyone is still trying to sort out the right pricing. It’s true the average Indian consumer is used to far lower prices and can’t afford more. However, we need to focus on the consumers likely to buy this, who have the requisite broadband access and income, etc,” Matthew Ball, former head of strategic planning for Amazon Studios, told TechCrunch in a recent conversation.
Disney+ competes with more than three dozen international and local players in India, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Times Internet’s MX Player (which has over 175 million monthly active users), Zee5, Apple TV+ and Alt Balaji, which has over 27 million subscribers.
Most of these services monetize their viewers through ads, and have kept their monthly subscription price below $3.

Disney+ Hotstar has about 8 million subscribers