Disney Shares Critical Update About Streaming Business

Well, friends, 2024 has arrived and it’s a BIG year for streaming at the Walt Disney Company.

Disney+ has become available via the Apple Vision Pro, some series will be getting another season while others are unavailable for select viewers, the beta version of the Hulu and Disney+ app integration has already launched and the full launch is coming soon, AND Disney is working toward having its “combined streaming businesses” reach profitability by the end of this fiscal year. So how is that all coming along? We’ve got a big update!

February 7th marked the release of Disney’s earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 (and the release of its associated earnings report). That has given us great insight into the current state of streaming at Disney.

At the end of the 2023 fiscal year, Disney+ Core had 112.6 million subscribers and Disney+ Hotstar had 37.6 million. Now, things have changed. By the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, Disney+ Core had 111.3 million subscribers and Disney+ Hotstar had 38.3 million.

In terms of the financial standing of Disney’s direct-to-consumer business as a whole (which includes Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar, and Hulu), here’s a look at the revenues and operating losses for this past quarter:

The increase in operating loss was due to the performance of The Marvels and Wish in the current quarter compared to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Strange World in the prior-year quarter.

As far as Disney+’s profitability goes, the company still expects to reach its goal for the combined streaming businesses in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024. First-quarter Entertainment Direct-to-Consumer operating losses improved by nearly $300 million versus the prior quarter.

There’s a lot at stake when it comes to Disney’s streaming businesses, particularly since CEO Bob Iger has identified it as one of his core priorities and the Company agreed to a billion-dollar deal to acquire the remaining shares Comcast had in Hulu. Couple that with the crackdown on password sharing and proposed changes in ad offerings, and you’ve got a truly evolving business. We’ll be watching closely to see just how Disney performs when it comes to streaming in 2024 and whether it can deliver on its goal to become profitable soon.

Stay tuned for the latest updates!

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