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Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicIs Disney+ going out the door? Numbers are dropping following the company’s decision to cut content. Disney CEO Bob Iger has now spoken out.
Since its inception and through the pandemic, we have seen Disney+ shine as one of the financially viable aspects of the Walt Disney World company, due to returning Disney CEO, Bob Iger. Thanks to Disney+, Disney found a way to continue acquiring customers through subscribers, all while their theme parks remained either closed or under a tight capacity limit.
While the parks worldwide were shut down, and with many being stuck in a lockdown, Disney fans needed something to consume that would entertain them during these unprecedented times. With Disney+ on the horizon, it was the perfect time for the streaming platform to shine. Instantly, Disney+ became the go-to streaming platform for many, with the platform gunning for Netflix’s top spot after only starting up a year prior.
As part of The Walt Disney Company’s Q2 earnings report of 2023, the company is reporting a major loss on its streaming platform. Disney+ reportedly lost a total of four million subscribers in Q2 of 2023. This does not bode well for Disney, especially when considering this downward trend that started back in its Q1 earnings report. The streaming platform’s huge loss was partially down to the streamer’s Disney+ Hotstar offering in India and Southeast Asia losing the Indian Premier League (IPL) rights for the massive cricket nation.
At one point, What If…? Season 2, Loki Season 2, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Echo, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos were all rumored to release this year. That full list proved not to be the case. On top of that, we have seen full projects like National Treasure get axed.
Related: Disney Loses 4 Million Subscribers on Its Streaming Platform
Previous Disney CFO Christine McCarthy outlined the company’s plan, saying, “We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation.” The comments come as Disney recently canceled projects like National Treasure and Lucasfilm’s Willow after just one season each.
“As a result, we will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms, and currently expect to take an impairment charge of approximately $1.5 to $1.8 billion,” McCarthy said. “The charge, which will not be recorded in our segment results, will primarily be recognized in the third quarter as we complete our review and remove the content.”
Related: Bob Iger Says Disney Theme Park Expansions Are Incoming
Therefore, Disney+ is currently in the midst of a historic content purge, which has garnered the attention of fans from around the world. Disney removed more than 50 titles from both Disney+ and Hulu, including dozens of full-length films and series, in an attempt to cut costs.
The full list of what Disney+ cut from their platforms was staggering. Below, you can see what IPs are now joining the Disney+ graveyard.
Big Shot (Disney+)
Turner & Hooch [(Disney+)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+)
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (Disney+)
Willow (Disney+)
The Making Of Willow (Disney+)
Diary of a Future President (Disney+)
Just Beyond (Disney+)
The World According to Jeff Goldblum (Disney+)
Marvel’s Project Hero (Disney)
Marvel’s MPower (Disney+)
Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever (Disney+)
Rosaline (Disney+)
Cheaper by the Dozen remake (Disney+)
The One and Only Ivan (Disney+)
Stargirl (Disney+)
Encore! (Disney+)
A Spark Story (Disney+)
Black Beauty (Disney+)
Clouds (Disney+)
Weird but True! (Disney+)
Timmy Failure (Disney+)
Be Our Chef (Disney+)
Magic Camp (Disney+)
Howard (Disney+)
Earth to Ned (
Disney+)
Foodtastic (Disney+)
Stuntman (Disney+)
Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (Disney+)
Wolfgang (Disney+)
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer (Disney+)
The Premise (Hulu)
Love in the Time of Corona (Hulu)
Everything’s Trash (Hulu)
Best in Snow (Hulu)
Best in Dough (Hulu)
Maggie (Hulu)
Dollface (Hulu)
The Quest (Hulu)
The Hot Zone (Nat Geo/Hulu)
Y: The Last Man (FX/Hulu)
Pistol (FX/Hulu)
Little Demon (FX/Hulu)
Today, Disney is holding their Q3 2023 Earnings Call. Here we have seen that direct-to-consumer sales have increased 9%. That being said, Disney+ subscribers have dropped to 146.1 million. Disney’s goal for Disney+ subscribers was 154.8 million, so this now falls short. That being said, Disney’s
“core” consumers increased by 1% — regardless, we are starting to see subscribers drop off now that Disney has begun to reduce the amount of content they are able to bring to their audience, the people paying for these services on a month-to-month basis.
Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed the following:
Direct-to-Consumer revenues for the quarter increased 9% to $5.5 billion and operating loss decreased to $0.5 billion from a loss of $1.1 billion. The decrease in operating loss was due to a lower loss at Disney+, higher operating income at Hulu and a lower loss at ESPN+. 4 The improvement at Disney+ was due to higher subscription revenue and a decrease in marketing costs, partially offset by higher programming and production costs and lower advertising revenue. Higher subscription revenue was attributable to Disney+ Core subscriber growth and increases in Disney+ Core retail pricing. The increase in programming and production costs was due to higher costs for non-sports content, partially offset by a decrease in sports programming costs. The decreases in sports programming costs and advertising revenue reflected the comparison to IPL cricket programming in the prior-year quarter, as we did not renew the digital rights beginning with the 2023 season.
Iger continued to discuss how they have raised prices across Disney+ prices and that ad-supported Disney+ subscription service options have been purchased by 40% of users. Ad-free bundles will also be coming to the US for Disney+ and Hulu, which will inturn, cost more as their current ad-free options do, increasing Disney+ revenue. Iger also announced that they be cracking down on password sharing, making it impossible to split the cost of Disney+ with friends or family.
Considering Disney CEO Bob Iger was the one to develop Disney+, it must be a tough to see the platform struggling as it is.
Are you still a Disney+ subscriber? Let us know in the comments below.