- Disney reported 33.5 million Disney+ subscribers at the end of this fiscal second-quarter and 54.5 million as of May 4;
- Disney reached 60 cents in earnings per share vs. 86 cents expected, and revenues of $18.01 billion vs. $17.68 billion expected by the market;
- The company registered growth on all of its streaming platforms in the past quarter;
- According to the conference call, Disney+ will roll out next in Japan in June, in Belgium and Portugal later in September, and in Brazil and Latin America in late 2020.
Disney released its fiscal second-quarter results this Tuesday, May 5th, with numbers that comprise the first three months of 2020. With its highly profitable parks shuttered for much of this period due to the coronavirus outbreak, results were expected to drop on a YoY comparison.
As first reported by Yahoo Finance, a few minutes before the company’s conference call with analysts, Disney reached 60 cents in earnings per share vs. 86 cents expected, and revenues of $18.01 billion vs. $17.68 billion expected by the market.
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The streaming service Disney+, on the other hand, is the bright spot in this latest report. For the end of Q2, Disney reported 33.5 million Disney+ subscribers, and updating their April’s figure, the company reported 54.5 million Disney+ subscribers as of May 4th.
“People want good news. They want to expect joy and a feeling of togetherness,” executive chairman and former CEO Bob Iger said during the earnings call, declaring that Disney could be part of the broader recovery of the economy.
Direct-to-Consumer and International revenues, the one division pushing Disney’s growth, increased from $1.1 billion to $4.1 billion in the quarter. Hulu was reported with 32.1 million total subscribers, up from 30.4 million from last quarter and 25.2 million YoY. ESPN+ had 7.9 million subscribers, up from 6.6 million at the end of Q1 and 2.2 million YoY.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has had an appreciable financial impact on a number of our businesses, we are confident in our ability to withstand this disruption and emerge from it in a strong position,” said CEO Bob Chapek, in a company press release.
“Disney has repeatedly shown that it is exceptionally resilient, bolstered by the quality of our storytelling and the strong affinity consumers have for our brands, which is evident in the extraordinary response to Disney+ since its launch last November.”
According to the document, growth in TV/SVOD distribution results was due to sales of content to Disney+ driven by The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, and Aladdin.
Chapek confirmed that Disney+ will roll-out next in Japan in June, in Belgium and Portugal later in September, and in Brazil and Latin America in “late 2020”.
