Disney + reaches 73.7 million streaming subscribers, ESPN + surpasses 10 million – Deadline

Disney + reported 73.7 million subscribers as of September 30, with ESPN + surpassing 10 million for the first time.

The numbers were included in Disney’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings release, which showed a media giant beaten by COVID-19 but still beating Wall Street’s financial forecast.

ESPN’s tally of 10.3 million streaming subscribers was almost triple the level of a year ago, although average revenue per subscriber fell 12% to 4.54. (ARPU figures at ESPN do not include pay-per-view events, including the company’s popular UFC offerings.) Hulu reported 32.5 million subscribers to its on-demand service and 4.1 million additional to the Hulu + Live TV package. The total of 36.6 million subscribers increased by 28% compared to the same period a year ago.

ESPN and Hulu both got a plan with Disney +, with all three services getting a discounted rate of $ 13 per month.

Direct-to-consumer and international revenue for the quarter increased 41% to $ 4.9 billion, while unit operating losses fell from $ 751 million to $ 580 million. There were no numbers in the publication of Mulan’s results, which was released in September as a Premier Access title for $ 30 to all Disney + subscribers.

In August, the company reported 60.5 million Disney + subscribers, which already puts it within the range of internal forecasts for subscribers within five years just eight months after launch. The end result, however, is a bit more problematic, with losses expected to continue on the streaming side through FY2024.

The quarterly numbers were released on the one-year anniversary of the launch of Disney +, the most successful of the five more than $ 5 billion services that have hit the market to challenge Netflix in the past year. NBCUniversal’s Apple TV +, HBO Max and Peacock have so far seen mixed results, and Quibi said last month it was shutting down after a six-month attempt to mount a mobile-only streaming offering.

While Apple went global from the start, Disney + executed a more gradual rollout in Europe, North America, Australia, and key Asian territories like Japan. Next week, it will arrive in Latin America, including large areas like Brazil and Argentina. In India, it was released as an offer through Hotstar, the main distributor that Disney acquired under the $ 71.3 billion deal with Fox. In some parts of the world, such as the Middle East and North Africa, Disney + programming is licensed to pay-TV partners and the streaming service is not yet operational. In December, Disney plans to reveal updated plans for Hotstar and the rest of its portfolio in a day-long presentation to investors.

Hulu came under full control of Disney in 2019, after the company shortly acquired Comcast and acquired the stake in 21st Century Fox. Hulu continued to grow steadily, as did its industry-leading live TV bouquet, but the 13-year-old streaming service has entered a transition phase. Plans for its long-awaited international deployment were put on hold earlier this year due to COVID-19. Shortly before the pandemic swept through the United States, Randy Freer left the head of Hulu as part of a reorganization.

Freer’s functions were transferred to Kevin Mayer, who headed the company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International unit. Mayer then left, and another reorganization last month centralized all distribution and handed oversight of Hulu to Kareem Daniel. Hulu’s programming mix added biased adult tariffs to FX, although integrating Fox TV development into Disney was not a seamless process, according to insiders.

ESPN is at a similar crossroads. ESPN + has grown, although most of the top programming – especially the most important sports rights, remain on ESPN’s “mothership”. With pay TV subscriber trends limiting ratings and advertising, not many people at Disney dispute the need to stream on ESPN, but it will take some time to transform this battleship. ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro said rights talks with many partners increasingly include ESPN + components, but the economics of sports can make streaming exclusives difficult to achieve on a large scale. .

With COVID-19 surging revenues in 2020 and even a resumption of the NBA season showing a dramatic drop in ratings, ESPN has had to downsize, as have other major sports entities. Earlier this month, it cut 500 posts, most in its traditional broadcast operation.