All the News You Missed from Disney’s Q3 Earnings Call

Today was the Walt Disney Company’s Q3 Earnings Call, and we got a lot of new information!

These calls are usually filled with announcements on streaming, theme parks, and company finances, and today’s call was no exception. So let’s dive right in to everything that was discussed!

Earnings Reports

Before the call begins, Disney releases their earnings reports for that particular quarter. Today, we learned some interesting details from those numbers, including the fact that the Walt Disney Company brought in $17 billion in revenue in Q3 alone. That’s an improvement of $6 billion from the same time last year.

However, they’re still recovering in many areas due to losses from the pandemic. The Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division made $4.3 billion, but only turned a profit of $356 million. But, that’s still great news — it’s the first time that the parks have turned a profit in the past five quarters!

The Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of the company made $12.6 billion in revenue in Q3, largely due to streaming success. Subscriber numbers have continued to rise among Disney’s various services (more on that in a minute).

Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products

Now, let’s catch up on all of the announcements made today regarding Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. This is the last earnings call before Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration kicks off, so there was a lot of anticipation over what the company would share today!

Unfortunately, not too many exciting announcements were made. Disney CFO Christine McCarthy did comment on park capacities, noting that Walt Disney World was coming very close to its capacity limits almost every day throughout Q3 and that both WDW and Disneyland Resort had been relaxing capacity limits over the last few months.

We did get a few additional details on something coming soon, the Disney Genie app. CEO Bob Chapek discussed how it would be a way for guests to customize their vacation plans, putting them in control and allowing them to spend less time waiting in line. We haven’t heard much about this app in quite a while, so it was great to get an update! (Click here to check out all of Chapek’s comments on Genie.)

The only other news we had in this category was the discussion of the impact that the Delta variant has had on the theme parks. Bob Chapek noted that “The primary noise that we’re seeing right now is really around group or convention cancelations.” He shared that demand for the parks continues, and future park pass reservations are reflecting even higher attendance levels than what has been seen in Q3.

Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution

Another major business segment with plenty of news to share was Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution…also known as the home of Disney+. With so many mega-hit series like Loki and The Mandalorian drawing in countless viewers this year, Disney+ has certainly become a powerhouse streaming service (not to mention the huge film releases, like Black Widow and Jungle Cruise!).

So let’s talk subscriber numbers! Disney+’s updated subscriber count is now 116 million, while Hulu has grown to 42.8 million and ESPN+ is at 14.9 million. On average, Disney made a $4.16 revenue per Disney+ subscriber in Q3.

Also, we found out that on November 12th the company will host an event called Disney+ day. It will include an “unprecedented, company-wide cross-promotional campaign.” That was all the information they shared, so it looks like we’ll be waiting for more details soon!

Studios and General Entertainment Content

And in other news, Bob Chapek also commented a bit about actor compensation following recent events with the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit. He noted that they haven’t had many issues with talent contracts due to Disney+ releases and they’re hoping to avoid problems in the future. He didn’t mention Johansson or Black Widow by name, but he had some interesting things to say (click here to check them out).

And that’s everything important that was covered at today’s earnings call! Stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news and updates!

Click Here to Read More on the Scarlett Johansson Lawsuit!

Did you tune in to the earnings call? Let us know!

 

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