For years, one of the biggest headaches at The Walt Disney Company has been its streaming service, Disney+. Disney+ was launched in 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world to shut down. While Disney saw success with the streaming service during its initial launch, it has been a pretty steady downhill slide for a long time.
Related: Bob Chapek Sued by Investors For LYING About Disney+
Nearly every quarter, Disney would announce that Disney+ had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as subscribers. In just four years, the streaming service has lost Disney around $11 billion. In addition to that, the company is facing multiple lawsuits from investors who feel that they were misled by now-fired CEO Bob Chapek, former CFO Christine McCarthy, and former executive Kareem Daniel.
While Disney, its investors, and fans have gotten used to being disappointed by Disney+, there has finally been a turnaround!
On November 8, The Walt Disney Company held its fourth-quarter earnings call. Right before the call, Disney released its earnings numbers, and Mr. Iger sat for an interview with CNBC. It was then that Disney shared that the company had added millions of subscribers. Iger was excited to share that nearly 7 million people joined Disney’s streaming services, including Disney+ and Disney HotStar.
Because of the success that Disney+ is starting to see, Iger shared even more exciting news. The company would not be looking to crack down on password sharing on the app until at least 2025.
Back in August, Iger announced that Disney would be following in the footsteps of Netflix and cracking down on password sharing. That would, hopefully, increase the number of subscribers, since multiple households could no longer share one account. Iger originally said that the crackdown was expected to come sometime in 2024, but might not be fully implemented by the end of the year.
It should be noted that this password-sharing crackdown is already being implemented in some locations. In October 2023, Disney announced that password-sharing would end for those who were subscribed to Disney+ in Canada. The sharing limitations were set to be put in place beginning in November 2023.
Disney executives were incredibly excited to see the positive direction that Disney+ is heading in. Iger credited the forward movement largely to three incredibly successful releases — Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 (2023), The Little Mermaid (2023), and Elemental (2023). Elemental is actually the most successful film that has ever streamed on Disney+.
Iger also said that the Star Wars series Ahsoka and the Korean drama Moving were incredibly successful and another reason for the current success of Disney+.
As a way to keep Disney+ heading towards the black, the company is continuing to keep a close eye on the success of its original programming. They are also continuing to re-examine budgets for the shows that have remained on the streaming service. Many of the shows received budget cuts as Iger looked to turn the service around and stop the bleeding.
Are you excited to hear about the delay? Let us know in the comments!
