Disney Just Dropped MASSIVE Updates — See Them All HERE

Buckle up, Disney just made some massive reveals and we’re breaking it all down for you.

On May 10th, 2023, Disney held its quarterly earnings call for the second quarter of their 2023 fiscal year (Q2 FY 2023). Disney also released an earnings report to go with it. During the previous earnings call/report, we got some HUGE updates about Disney+ subscribers (and losses there), how the company is doing financially, and even news about new Disney sequels! So what did this earnings report/call bring? Read on to find out.

Has Disney+ LOST or GAINED Subscribers?

In February of 2023, we learned that Disney+ actually LOST subscribers during Q1 of Fiscal Year 2023. At that time, Disney reported that they had 161.8 million Disney+ subscribers (a drop of 2.4 million at the time, though that loss was in Disney’s international services). So how is Disney+ doing now?

As of the end of Q2 for FY 2023 (April 1st, 2023), Disney+ had a total of 157.8 million subscribers. That marks ANOTHER loss for the Company (compared to Q1 of fiscal year 2023).

It looks like the biggest loss here is specifically at Disney+ Hotstar. But the domestic Disney+ subscriber numbers are also slightly down from the last quarter, while international subscriber numbers (excluding Hotstar) are up. The number of Disney+ Hotstar subscribers went from 57.5 million at the end of December 2022 to 52.9 million on April 1st, 2023.

©Disney

It’s about more than pure numbers of subscribers though. You’ll also want to look at the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber to see how the service is doing. As of Q2 FY 2023, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber went UP for domestic subscribers (by 20%!!) and international subscribers (excluding Hotstar). Hotstar once again appears to be where things went down for streaming.

According to Disney, “Domestic Disney+ average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased from $5.95 to $7.14 due to an increase in average retail pricing.”

In other words, those increases in Disney+ pricing helped Disney achieve greater monthly revenue per paid subscriber (and we can expect to see more of those in the future…more on that below).

Click here for our full post about Bob Iger and whether he’s succeeding in his “number one priority” at Disney

Is Streaming Still Losing Money?

What about losses in streaming overall? During the earnings call/report for Q4 of FY 2022, Disney’s direct-to-consumer services reported a huge loss to the tune of $1.474 billion. That, combined with various other factors, led to Chapek’s removal as CEO. Iger has said that streaming is a big priority for him, so how has it done since he’s returned?

In Q2 of FY 2023, Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer business still reported a loss, but it looks like things are getting better. The revenues at Direct-to-Consumer increased by 12% compared to the prior year quarter, and the operating loss went down 26%.

According to Disney, “The decrease in operating loss was due to improved results at Disney+ and ESPN+, partially offset by lower operating income at Hulu.”

In terms of the improved results at Disney+, Disney indicated that this was due to “higher subscription revenue ” (which we touched on above) and a “decrease in marketing costs, partially offset by higher programming and production costs and, to a lesser extent, increased technology costs.”

The higher subscription revenue was due to “subscriber growth and increases in retail pricing,” (a.k.a. those Disney+ price increases are helping!) which was “partially offset by an unfavorable foreign exchange impact.” Disney also notes that there was an increase in programming and production costs and that “was due to more content provided on the service.”

This could lean into Iger’s desire to look at “curating” content versus producing new content and how costs for each impact the Company.

Disney+ Price Increases

As noted above, it looks like price increases have helped Disney+ and more increases are on the way. During the earnings call, Iger announced that there will be a price INCREASE for the ad-free Disney+ plan by the end of the year.

Disney rationalized this price increase by saying that “the pricing changes [they’ve] already implemented have proven successful.”

See our full post on the increase here

Disney+ and Hulu NEW App

On top of the price increases announced for Disney+, Iger shared that Disney will soon offer a “one-app experience” that will incorporate Hulu content under the Disney+ app. With this app, it appears that subscribers of both services will be able to access both Hulu and Disney+ content in one place.

©Hulu

Iger said that this change should happen before the end of 2023.

Learn more about this combined app experience here

How Are the Disney Parks Doing Financially?

Amid streaming losses, the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division had shown strong financial results in recent quarters. In Q1 of FY 2023, the division reported a revenue of $8.7 billion, thanks in large part to more guest spending on things like Genie+.

Things are still looking up for the parks, but it’s complicated. The revenues for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products for this past quarter (Q2 of FY 2023) did increase by 17%. But not every spot is doing as well as Disney might have hoped. Let’s break it down.

Disney noted that higher operating results for this past quarter are thanks to increases in the international and domestic parks, “partially offset by lower results at our merchandise licensing business.”

In terms of the experiences, some big income growth is thanks to Disney Cruise Line specifically due to an increase in passenger cruise days and the addition of the Disney Wish! That has been partially offset, however, by “higher costs associated with our ongoing fleet expansion.”

At the domestic parks and resorts, however, Disney notes that the results were “slightly unfavorable to the prior-year quarter.” What happened? Well, it seems there was a DECREASE at Disney World that was offset by “growth” at Disneyland.

In Disney World, the decrease was due to “higher costs” thanks to things like “cost inflation, increased expenses associated with new guest offerings and higher depreciation.” But there was an increase in volumes thanks to growth in attendance and more nights where hotel rooms were occupied. Some of the increased costs at the parks had to do with wage increases so that’s another thing to keep in mind.

Over at Disneyland, it seems things are looking up as they’ve had a growth in attendance AND guest spending. Higher guest spending was due to increases in “average ticket prices and average daily hotel room rates.” But there were also more costs at Disneyland (for the Disney Company) due to “higher operations support costs and increased costs associated with new guest offerings.”

So it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Overall, things are looking up for the division but Disney World had some less-than-favorable results, so it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes there in the coming quarters.

With this data in mind, Disney executives indicated that they’ll be “looking at ways to address cost management.”

See our post on the parks here (and why you should NOT expect prices to go down soon)

Overall Financial Results — How Is Disney Looking?

In terms of overall finances, here’s a breakdown:

Revenues for the quarter INCREASED 13%
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter INCREASED compared to the prior-year quarter
Excluding certain items, diluted EPS for the quarter DECREASED compared to the prior year quarter

Iger shared that Disney is “pleased” with its accomplishment in this quarter. In a statement, he said, “From movies to television, to sports, news, and our theme parks, we continue to deliver for consumers, while establishing a more efficient, coordinated, and streamlined approach to our operations.”

What Does Iger Think About the DeSantis Drama?

Lawsuits have been filed left and right it seems when it comes to the Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) drama. Disney sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the new Board of Supervisors for the District in federal court, the District has sued Disney in state court, and DeSantis has signed a bill into law that impacts certain Disney agreements with the old board.

During the earnings call, Iger commented on the situation and said that “this is about one thing and one thing only — and that is retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation,” (meaning the Florida Parental Rights in Education Bill — what critics called “Don’t Say Gay”).

Iger talked about how there are about 2,000 special districts in Florida but “If the goal is leveling the playing field in the uniform application of the law, then government oversight of special districts needs to occur or be applied to all special districts.”

He pointed out that Disney has greatly benefitted Florida by being the largest taxpayer in Central Florida, employing 75,000 individuals, and thousands of visitors each year.

Iger noted that Disney has plans to invest billions in Florida over the next 10 years but ended his statement with a very poignant question “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes or not?”

This all comes after the Board has taken its latest actions, implementing new code enforcement rules and more as the pending lawsuits continue. We’ll be sure to watch for updates as this all moves forward.

Click here to see EVERYTHING Iger had to say about Reedy Creek

What Else Do You Need to Know?

The last earnings call also brought us huge news about 7,000 job cuts taking place at Disney, the massive restructuring happening within the Company, and Iger’s plan to cut $5.5 BILLION in spending. So how is that going?

According to the latest updates, Disney shared “charges of $152 million primarily for severance” due to some of the restructuring changes.

Iger said that Disney is on track to meet or exceed that $5.5 billion in cost cuts and explained that the majority of the reduction in terms of content spending will come in 2024 and 2025 due to existing content commitments.

Iger also discussed artificial intelligence during the call (in response to a question) by indicating that Disney is already starting to use artificial intelligence to “create some efficiencies” that can “ultimately better serve consumers.”

He warned, however, that A.I. “is going to be highly disruptive and could be extremely difficult to manage, especially in protecting our IP.” But Iger seems interested in just what A.I. may be able to do in the future.

See more about Iger’s thoughts on A.I. here

In terms of other updates to know, here’s a quick breakdown:

Iger started the call by interestingly congratulating Universal on the success of the Super Mario Bros. movie.
He also shared that the Disney+ ad tier will be available in Europe by the end of the calendar year.
Don’t expect all of your favorites to stay on Disney+ — according to Christine McCarthy, some content will be REMOVED from Disney’s streaming platforms as they make changes

Now from Disney CFO Christine McCarthy: “We will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms.” and “We intend to produce lower volumes of content in alignment with this strategic shift.”

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) May 10, 2023

There has been a 10% DROP in advertising revenue and Disney is facing a “challenging entertainment marketplace” but McCarthy believes Disney will “continue to be a leader in advertising.”
Disney is expecting Q3 operating LOSSES for direct-to-consumer earnings.
Things could look VERY different in Disney World in the back half of 2023 when compared to last year since the 50th Anniversary has ended. But Disney still expects that 2023 revenue will grow in the high single-digit percentage range.

Iger has indicated that there are discussions about when to move ESPN to ESPN+. Apparently, the declines in subscribers and advertising weakness is “forcing [Disney] to take a look at the cost structure of those channels.”
What about buying the remaining interest in Hulu? Iger said that the future is still not clear and to some extent that’s in the hands of Comcast.

That’s a wrap-up of this earnings report/call. For more news, see our posts below. And check back with us on the latest Disney updates.