Disney+ sees first subscriber decline in three years
Illustration: La Mandarina Dibujos/Mobile Time
Disney+ (Android, iOS) had its first drop in users worldwide since its launch in 2019. According to the financial report published this Wednesday, 8, the streaming service went from 164 million to 162 million subscribers, a decrease of 1% in comparison between December 2022 and October of the same year. The main reason was a 6% decline in the studio’s platform for India and Southeast Asia, Disney+Hotstar, from 61 million to 57.5 million subscribers.
ARPU
It is important to note that the increase in Hotstar+ subscriptions brought Disney its only increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) per month, 28%, jumping from $0.58 to $0.74, something that driven by increased user advertising. the plan. In the US and Canada it fell 2%, from $5.83 to $5.95. In the rest of the world (excluding the Hotstar zone) the decline was 4%, from USD 5.83 to USD 5.62. The company highlighted the drag on ARPU from an increase in retail price in North America and exchange rate reflections. Overall, Disney+ ARPU increased 1% to $5.53 in December 2022 from $4.84 in the prior quarter.
operational
The area’s operating loss that includes streaming (direct-to-consumer or D2C) increased from $600 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $1.1 billion a year later. Disney+ and streaming Hulu had increased production and programming costs in the fourth quarter of 2022 and pulled the loss increase. On the bright side was the upgrade to another platform, ESPN+, which raised its subscription prices.
Income
Direct-to-consumer achieved revenue of $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of 13% compared to $4.7 billion in the same period of 2021. Within the media and entertainment division, at the end of the fourth quarter of In in 2022, D2C accounted for 35% of total revenue of $14.7 billion, versus 49% from linear TV service, which recorded $7.5 billion, and $2.4 billion from content sharing, or 16%.
Comparing media vs. theme parks, 67% of revenue ($14.7 billion) comes from media and 45% ($8.7 billion) comes from parks. In total, Disney saw an 8% increase in revenue to $21 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to $23 billion a year earlier. And net income rose 18%, from $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.
