Disney+ saw a significant slowdown in subscriber growth in the three months to September, adding just 2.1 million new customers compared to over 12 million in the preceding quarter. Walt Disney Company reported 118.1 million paid subscribers for the streaming service at the end of its fiscal fourth quarter, up from 116.0 million three months earlier and 60 percent growth year-on-year. ARPU at Disney+ fell 9 percent year-on-year to USD 4.12 due to a greater share of subscribers for the lower-priced Hotstar service in Asia.
At ESPN+, subscriber numbers rose to 17.1 million, up by 2.8 million from the previous quarter and 66 percent higher year-on-year. Hulu ended the period with 43.8 million subscribers, up by 1 million from June and 20 percent more than a year ago.
Disney warned already in September of a slowdown in Disney+ subscriber growth due to the ongoing effects of Covid-19, including on sports schedules and TV and movie production. The company said it remained confident in its long-term growth targets, supported by continued expansion of the streaming service to new markets, such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan this month.
The Direct-to-Consumer business still generated revenues for the quarter up 38 percent year-on-year to USD 4.6 billion, helped by the release of two films on Disney+ simultaneously with their theatre release (Black Widow and Jungle Cruise). The DTC operating loss widened to USD 630 million from USD 374 million a year ago, due mainly to rising costs for production and the expansion of Disney+.
Disney reported a strong improvement in net profit for the quarter, thanks to a return to more normal operations at its parks business and sports programming. Net profit was USD 160 million or 9 cents per share, compared to a loss of USD 710 million or USD 0.39 per share in the fourth quarter last year. Group revenues rose 26 percent year-on-year to USD 18.5 billion.
