The winds of change are blowing on Disney+. Even if the firm reported better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter of 2023, with year-on-year growth of 13%, all is not well for its streaming service.
The platform has seen its subscriber numbers drop significantly, especially in India with its Disney+ Hotstar version. Indeed, Disney told its investors that Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers during the first quarter of 2023, while the SVoD service had already lost 2.4 million by the end of 2022.
Less Disney content on Disney+?
But Disney has already made a decision to fix that problem, as the company’s chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, said during the earnings conference call. Deadline. The proposed solution is to remove content from the platform, as Warner did with HBO Max (now Max in the meantime):
“We are reviewing the content of our direct-to-consumer services to address strategic changes in our approach to content curation. As a result, we will be removing some content from our streaming platforms and are currently planning to do so. Savings of about $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion. The charge that will not be recognized in our segment results will be recognized first in the third quarter when we complete our review and write off the content.”
Christine McCarthy did not specify which programs and content were affected, but the firm has already made the first cleanup of its platform works, as evidenced by the cancellation of the series Willow, Big Shot, Les Petits Champions: Game Changers and Lost Treasures. But this new strategy goes hand in hand with the desire of Disney and its new CEO, Bob Iger, to produce less, but better.
For him, the firm spent too much time and money – under former CEO Bob Chapek – on the production and promotion of content that did not increase the number of subscribers to the platform, even today it is not profitable.
Bob Iger is a staunch defender of movies that are released in theaters, but he also wants to devote more resources to promoting them for their second run, when they land on Disney+, citing recent examples like this one. As The Little Mermaid, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 and Elemental, among the upcoming releases.
Where Bob Iger hopes to make money, or at least save money, is in the subscription itself. He announced the upcoming pricing of Disney+, which specifically refers to the ad-supported offering, which will launch in late 2022 for $7.99 per month in the US.
In order to avoid the dissatisfaction of users lost in the middle of all the available platforms, it is also necessary to attract a wider audience – beyond Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars fans – and above all, a more mature audience. . That’s why Bob Iger revealed his plans to bring Disney+ together with Hulu on one platform by the end of 2023.
This is already practically the case in France, since Hulu does not exist in France. Therefore, most of Hulu’s content is directly on Disney+ in France, under the Star tab, which includes more mature content.
What was the effect on France? Bob Iger plans to offer the subscription formula through advertising in Europe by the end of the year, so it’s not out of the question in France. As for the content, we’ll have to wait to find out which works will be removed, as catalogs vary by country.
Either way, Bob Iger has been wringing his hands on the benefits and taking sometimes drastic cost-cutting measures — such as eliminating 7,000 jobs — but he hopes the company can get back on track to meet its goals. 5.5 billion in savings.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
