Q3 Report Reveals Disney’s Financial Struggles as Push for Immoral Content Continues
By Movieguide® Contributor
During Disney’s Q3 fiscal report, CEO Bob Iger revealed that the company’s media sector is struggling as the company tries to evolve into the age of digital streaming.
Disney’s streaming business lost $512 million during Q3 as the company’s high spending continued. Despite this high loss, the profitability actually saw improvement from last year when it had lost more than $1 billion over Q3.
Disney+’s subscriber count fell to 146.1 million subscribers over the most recent quarter, posting a 7.4% decline – worse than Wall Street had predicted. Much of this loss came from subscribers in India after Disney lost the rights to Indian Premiere League cricket matches.
To help combat the struggles of its streaming services, Disney announced they will increase the price of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Disney+ will rise from $10.99 to $13.99 a month, Hulu will rise to $17.99 from $14.99 a month and ESPN+ will go from $9.99 to $10.99 a month. These price changes will go into effect in October.
Iger also announced that the company will follow Netflix’s path and start to crack down on password sharing.
“We’re actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family,” Iger said. “We will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”
“The strong momentum of our ad-supported plans in the U.S. demonstrates the importance of providing customers with choice, flexibility and value,” president of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment, Joe Early, added. “We are excited to expand that offering in more markets across the globe, including in Europe and Canada, and to launch a new premium duo bundle of ad-free Disney+ and Hulu this fall.”
Despite the losses that Disney has seen from their streaming services, the company stays committed to them as the future of the business.
“Moving forward, I believe three businesses will drive the greatest growth and value creation over the next five years,” Iger reiterated. “They are our film studios, our parks business and streaming, all of which are inextricably linked to our brands and franchises.”
However, as Movieguide® previously reported, if Disney wants to correct its financial problems, it must return to creating family-friendly content instead of immoral content that alienates its audience:
Once an untouchable giant in the media space, Disney has fallen from grace in recent years as the company struggles to connect with its audience and pushes immoral themes in its movies and shows.
Disney’s struggles have started to catch up with the business as the stock price approaches its 52-week low. On Monday, the stock closed at a price of $85.56, barely above its low closing of $84.17 on Dec. 28th. If the stock were to drop two more dollars and dip below $83.83, it would be the company’s lowest closing since 2014.
Investors have been seriously questioning Disney over the past year as the company has struggled in nearly every aspect of its business.
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