Disney+ is one step closer to surpassing Netflix and other streaming services in a race for the top.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ surpassed Wall Street's expectations last quarter by adding 7.0 million subscribers to its streaming service. Wall Street estimated a mid-point of around 4.5 million to 5 million adds, revenue of $20.1 billion, operating income of $3.3 billion and earnings per share of $1.17. While Disney+ did exceed the number of subscribers and operating income, it came in a little low in revenue at $19.2 billion and EPS of $1.08. The Hollywood Reporter notes the RPS miss could be due to a change in tax regulations, which led to the company's tax rate rising from 8.8 percent last year to 45.8 percent in the last quarter.
After this quarter, Disney+ sits at 137.7 million subscribers total. This puts it ahead of Hulu, which added 300,000 accounts for a total of 45.6 subs and ESPN+ added 1 million subscribers, reaching 22.3 million. Disney's media and entertainment distribution division reported a nine percent increase in revenue from last quarter, with streaming services up by 23 percent. Disney parks themselves have seen an enormous leap, almost up by 100 percent due to the effects last year of COVID-19 around the world.
The streaming business has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after Netflix garnered widespread attention when it reported a disastrous 200,000 loss to its subscriber count in Q1, a far cry from its estimate of 2.5 million add for the quarter. While part of this might be due to Netflix suspending subscription services in Russia due to the country's invasion of Ukraine, which numbered some 700,000 subscribers, the company has recently pointed toward password sharing as a primary culprit. Netflix has been trying to eliminate password sharing in the last year with a new feature, but it does not appear to have had much of an effect.
Some of the Disney+ numbers come from the appeal of the wildly-popular Marvel and Star Wars series available to watch on the service. Original TV series are a big draw in particular, with hit series such as The Mandalorian, Loki and WandaVision attracting critical and fan acclaim. Next on the horizon is the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi with Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the eponymous Jedi. Another upcoming series is Ms. Marvel staring Iman Vellani in the titular role of the teenage superhero.
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on May 27 on Disney+, while Ms. Marvel will hit the streaming service on June 8.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter