Disney Posts Revenue & Streaming Subscribers Gains

The Walt Disney Company touted an additional 14.4 million subscribers for Disney+ during the third fiscal quarter for a total of 152.1 million subs, alongside a 26 percent bump in company revenues.

“We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services. With 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the fiscal third quarter, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings,” said Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.”

Third-quarter revenue of $21.5 billion was up 26 percent year-on-year. Revenues for the media and entertainment segment were up 11 percent to $14.1 billion. The parks, experiences and products segment revenue grew to $7.4 billion, a 70 gain.

Operating income in the third quarter was $3.57 billion, up 50 percent year-over-year. The media division had $1.38 billion in operating income, down 32 percent. Operating income for the Parks segment totaled $2.19 billion, up significantly from the $356 million a year ago.

Looking at the linear networks, revenues for the quarter increased 3 percent to $7.2 billion, and operating income increased 13 percent to $2.5 billion. Domestic channels revenues increased 2 percent to $5.7 billion, and operating income increased 15 percent to $2.1 billion, with higher results in both cable and broadcasting. International channels revenues for the quarter increased 7 percent to $1.5 billion, and operating income held steady at $200 million.

Direct-to-consumer revenues for the quarter increased 19 percent to $5.1 billion, and operating loss widened from $800 million to $1.1 billion. The increase in operating loss was due to a higher loss at Disney+, lower operating income at Hulu and, to a lesser extent, a higher loss at ESPN+.

Content sales/licensing and other revenues for the quarter increased 26 percent to $2.1 billion, and segment operating results decreased from income of $132 million to a loss of $27 million.