Disney continues to go downhill and without brakes. Just a few days ago, it was announced that the company had lost almost 1 billion dollars with its latest movie releases, its streaming division is not doing much better either. As announced by the company in its latest quarterly results, Disney+ lost 146 million subscribers worldwide in the last three months.
This is down 7.4% from the previous quarter but meets the estimates Wall Street forecast for the division. According to NBC, the financial market assured that Disney+ would have a drop of almost 151.1 million subscribers and the loss has been less.
Disney+ Hotstar, the company's Indian division, was the most affected by its subscribers' decision to leave the platform. There, a 24% drop in users was recorded just after the company lost the rights to broadcast Indian Premier League matches.
In total, the company lost about $460 million in the latest quarter versus the $1.409 billion it earned last year in the same period. The loss is about 25 cents per share. Revenues grew 4% over what was generated in 2022, but fall short of Wall Street's estimate as the company posted earnings of $22.33 billion, slightly below the $22.5 billion forecast.
Disney increases the prices of its platforms
Faced with the drop in subscribers, the company decided to raise the prices of its services. In this way, the company announced that it will raise the price of the regular Disney+ subscription plan by 27%. Starting October 12, the ad-free version will cost $13.99 per month, up from $10.99 per month. It will keep the same price ($7.99 per month) for the advertising version, which will also arrive in Europe and Canada on November 1.
The company's other major platform, Hulu, will also raise its cost. As of October 12, those who wish to enjoy its contents will have to pay 20% more than before. The ad-free version will now cost $17.99 per month versus the current $14.99 per month. The ad-supported version will remain unchanged in price at $7.99 per month.
Disney announces new price hikes for their streaming services:
• Disney+ without ads will have a price increase from $10.99 to $13.99 per month for US customers.
• Hulu without ads will increase from $14.99 to $17.99 per month. pic.twitter.com/AMX9HxWdqP
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 9, 2023
The version that united ESPN+ (with commercials), Disney+ (without commercials) and Hulu (without commercials) will also increase in price. This plan will increase in price by five dollars to $24.99 from $19.99 currently. The package of the three ad-supported platforms also increases by two dollars per month to $14.99.
This will not be the only measure Disney will take. According to The Wrap, the company's CEO, Bob Iger, assured that they will use one of the strategies recently implemented by Netflix and seek to put an end to shared accounts:
We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies. And we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.
