Disney said revenue growth for its fiscal first quarter to 2 January remained strong at its Direct-to-Consumer segment, with revenues soaring 73 percent year-on-year to USD 3.50 billion. The operating loss more than halved to USD 466 million from a loss of 1.11 billion, helped by improved results at Hulu, and to a lesser extent, at Disney+ and ESPN+. Revenues at domestic channels went up 1 percent to USD 6.1 billion while at international channels, they increased 6 percent to USD 1.6 billion.
Revenues for the entire Disney Group fell 22 percent from the year before to USD 16.25 billion, still pulled down by the coronavirus pandemic. The parks, experiences and products division was especially affected, taking a hit to its operating profit of USD 2.6 billion. The effect on Disney media and entertainment distribution was less severe, with revenues off 5 percent to USD 12.66 billion, as higher sports programming costs were largely offset by higher advertising revenue related to the broadcast of events. The company said the virus crisis may cost it a total of USD 1 billion in fiscal 2021, though some of this may be capitalised and amortised over future periods.
Both Hulu and Disney+ results improved on the back of subscriber growth and increased advertising revenues, the latter especially at Hulu, partially offset by an increase in programing and production costs. The same trend was visible at ESPN+. Disney+ ended the quarter with 94.9 million paid subscribers, up from 73.7 million in the previous quarter and 26.5 million the year before. Hulu raised its subscriber numbers to 39.4 million from 36.6 million in fiscal Q4 and 30.4 million the year earlier. ESPN+ meanwhile lifted its numbers to 12.1 million from 10.3 million sequentially and 6.6 million year-on-year.
