Disney+ Has First Quarterly Streaming Subscriber Miss
The first Disney+ subscriber miss since the streaming service’s November 2019 U.S. launch stirred some concern. Disney+ ended fiscal Q2 April 3 with 103.6 million paid subscribers, increasing nearly 9 million sequentially and shy of consensus estimates of 109 million.…
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Disney added the paid subs “at a faster pace in the last month of the second quarter” than in the first two, said Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy on a Thursday call. There were “no major market launches” in Q2, she said. And price hikes were the first “since we launched,” said CEO Bob Chapek. “We're extremely pleased with how the market reacted,” he said. “We've not observed any significantly higher churn.” Of sub “drivers,” the “content slate” will be key, he said. “We're spending a lot of money across our variety of franchises.” Disney is sticking with the Premier Access strategy it used for the Disney+ release of Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon as a $29.99 option, even as theaters reopen, said Chapek. The studio will “try to release things” theatrically and “reprime the pump” for movie audiences, but for consumers who are “a little leery still about going into a packed theater,” Premier Access gives them the option to watch feature films “in the safety and convenience of their home,” he said. Disney+ “should have benefited" from launching the first two TV shows from the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise and the Premier Access release of Raya, said Cowen Friday.