Disney+ Hotstar lost nearly 12.5 million subscribers in the most recent quarter ended June 2023. The company said the drop was due to the lack of cricket on the platform. However, the entertainment giant added 8,000,000 Disney subscribers internationally.
Why Disney+ Hotstar lost subscribers
Kevin Lansberry, interim chief financial officer, said Disney+ Hotstar subscribers declined this quarter as the company transitioned the product “from an IPL-centric product to a more balanced product with other sports and entertainment offerings.” have.
“I would also like to note that this deal is not a material component of our overall D2C financial results with its significantly lower ARPU compared to Disney+’s core product. We will therefore continue to focus on Disney+’s core product,” Lansberry added.
JioCinema
and IPL
It should be noted that Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, has outbid Disney by securing the streaming rights
Tata IPL
and one of the most watched tournaments in the world streamed for free on JioCinema.
The company is now CEO of Disney
Bob Iger
said the company was considering several markets that would help it turn this business into a profitable one.
“Basically, this means that in some markets we are investing less in local programming, but still maintaining the service. There are some markets where we may not offer any service at all. And there are others that we will be considering, I call it high potential markets where we will invest well in local programming, marketing and essentially full-service content in those markets,” he said.
“Basically, I say that not all markets are the same. And as for our path to profitability, we believe we can achieve that by prioritizing internationally,” added Iger.
Disney’s sale to Apple
The streaming giant posted its third consecutive quarter of decline. The development comes at a time when Disney is said to be working on a sale or the formation of a joint venture in India. There are also reports that Disney could be sold to Apple, but according to company boss Bob Iger, “It’s not something we’re obsessing over.”
Disney+ now has 146.1 million subscribers worldwide, down over 11 million from last quarter (157.8 million subscribers).
