Disney+ Domestic Revenue Per User Surges 20% as Streaming Division Losses Shrink

Lucas Manfredi
·2 min read

Disney+ saw its average monthly revenue per user in the U.S. and Canada surge 20% during the second fiscal quarter of 2023, increasing from $5.95 to $7.14 due to an “increase in average retail pricing.” Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts on the company’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday that a recent increase in the price of the streaming service was “de minimis.”

The international versions of Disney+, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, saw ARPU grow 6% from $5.62 to $5.93 due to a “favorable foreign exchange impact, a lower mix of wholesale subscribers and an increase in wholesale pricing.” Globally, ARPU rose from $3.93 per subscriber to $4.44.

Elsewhere, ESPN+ ARPU rose 2% from $5.53 to $5.64 driven by higher per-subscriber advertising revenue, partially offset by a higher mix of subscribers to multi-product offerings.

Hulu’s SVOD-only ARPU fell 6% from $12.46 to $11.73 due to lower per-subscriber advertising revenue and a higher mix of subscribers to multi-product offerings, partially offset by an increase in average retail pricing. When combining SVOD with Live TV, Hulu’s ARPU climbed 5% from $87.90 to $92.32 primarily due to an increase in average retail pricing, partially offset by lower per-subscriber advertising revenue.

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The company continued to see losses shrink in its direct-to-consumer division, which posted an operating loss of $659 million compared to $887 million a year ago. Overall DTC revenues rose 12% to $5.5 billion.

Subscriber losses at Disney+ continued, with the streamer shedding 4 million subscribers during the quarter for a total of 157.8 million globally. Hulu added 200,000 subscribers for a total of 48.2 million and ESPN+ added 400,000 subscribers for a total of 25.3 million.

Disney, whose shares fell over 4% in after-hours trading Wednesday, will combine Disney+ and Hulu into one app by the end of 2023, Iger announced on the call.

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