Walt Disney Co. said on Wednesday that it would raise prices for U.S. streaming subscribers who want to watch Disney+ without ads, as more viewers turn to what CEO Bob Chapek describes as “best value in streaming”.
The price increase associated with a new level of service Disney will launch in December for US subscribers. Basic Disney + the service today costs $7.99 (about Rs 630) per month. Starting in December, that basic service will run ads, so subscribers who don’t want to be ad-free will have to upgrade to the premium service which starts at $10.99 (about Rs 871). ) per month, up 37.5% from current price. The annual plan will cost $109.99 (approximately Rs. 8,600).
“We expect the ad class to be popular and we hope some people want to continue ad-free,” said CFO Christine McCarthy said on a conference call with analysts.
By Netflix The most popular streaming plan in the US is currently $15.50 (about Rs 1,200) per month and its top plan is $20 (about Rs 1,500) per month. That follows a number of interest rate hikes to help pay for its original programming, which has become even more important since Disney pulled its classic shows and movies from Netflix following a deal. licensing agreements between companies expire.
Disney said it added 14.4 million subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service in the April-June fiscal quarter. In total, subscribers to all of Disney’s streaming services , consists of Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ Hotstar, up to around 221 million, putting the entertainment giant slightly ahead of Netflix in the streaming wars.
Netflix ended June with 220.7 million subscribers, after losing nearly 1 million subscribers in the last quarter.
Disney says paid subscriptions to Disney+ have grown by 31%, most of them outside the US, compared with the same time last year. But revenue growth wasn’t as robust due to operating losses from “higher programming and manufacturing, technology, and marketing costs.”
Disney’s growing streaming revenue, combined with its theme park business recovering from the pandemic shutdown, has caused the Burbank, California-based entertainment giant to beat expectations. of Wall Street with quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Disney reported revenue of $21.5 billion (approximately Rs 1,70,440) in the three months to July 2, up 26% from the same time last year.
Earnings per share came in at $1.09 (about Rs 80) excluding certain items. Analysts polled by FactSet expect adjusted earnings of 97 cents per share on revenue of $20.99 billion (about Rs 1,66,403 crore) for the quarter, according to FactSet Research.
Disney said revenue at its parks, experiences and product segments grew to $7.39 billion (about Rs 58,585), up 70% from $4.34 billion (about Rs 34,089) a year before.
These numbers indicate a continued return from COVID-19 restrictions that temporarily closed all Disney parks in 2020, reduced capacity through 2021, and continued to affect some locations. attractions like Shanghai Disneyland, only open for three days in the April-June quarter.
