In the most recent fiscal quarter, Disney+
Over the past six months, Disney+'s subscribers have grown by 33%, in part driven by the Disney+ Hotstar bundle available in certain South Asian markets, including India. Just over a third of all Disney+ subscribers, 50.1 million, access the platform through Hotstar bundles, and that group saw a 42% increase in the second quarter compared to a 28% increase in non-Hotstar Disney+ subscriptions.
Disney's other two streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, have 45.6 million and 22.3 million subscribers respectively.
The low-cost Hotstar bundle option has resulted in lower average per-user revenue (ARPU) for Disney+ compared to platforms like Netflix
Disney's financial report for the quarter was also somewhat unimpressive, bringing in $19.25 billion in revenue compared to a forecasted $20.05 billion. The company is also putting increasingly large sums of money towards producing new content, advertising, and technology.
Disney also paid billions of dollars to end a licensing agreement for some unspecified Disney content. While the report didn't say who Disney had to pay off or what television or films they stopped licensing, many have speculated about the sudden transition of Marvel content from Netflix to Disney+.
The financial report wasn't all bad news. Along with the bump in subscribers, the company's Parks, Experiences, and Products segment saw revenues more than double compared to last year to $6.7 billion.
While Disney has only been in the direct-to-consumer streaming market for a few years, its long history of merchandising and marketing, as well as its collection of popular IPs, quickly drove up the popularity of Disney+. Initially, the platform's growth was driven by titles like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it has since steered its offerings more towards general entertainment.
Despite Disney+'s impressive user growth, investors are still concerned about future profitability, leading to a 30% drop in Disney's share prices over the past year. The pessimism surrounding Disney+ is largely the result of dismal reports from streaming giant Netflix.
While Disney+ has seen impressive growth this year, Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers, and the platform is expected to lose another two million in the second quarter. There is concern amongst investors that streaming has reached market saturation, meaning everyone who might want to purchase the service already has it.
Still, Disney+ has big plans for the future. This summer, the service is set to expand to an additional 42 countries and 11 territories in Africa, Europe, and West Asia. There are also plans to introduce an ad-supported version of Disney+ to draw in lower-income subscribers. Of course, the platform also has a slate of upcoming content, including Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and Star Wars' "Obi-Wan Kenobi".
