The CEO of the Bob Iger group made this announcement after the publication of the quarterly results, less bad than expected but confirming, for the first time, the drop in the number of subscribers on Disney+.
MO12345LEMONDE WITH AFP
The Disney+ platform has lost 2.4 million subscribers during the last three months of 2022 and the entertainment giant announced that it was going to suppress 7,000 jobs. This is the first time since the launch of the streaming service at the end of 2019 that Disney+ does not earn millions of new spectators during the past quarter. It now has 161.8 million subscribers worldwide.
In all, according to its press release of quarterly results published on Wednesday, the Disney group achieved a turnover of 23.5 billion dollars from October to December, better than hoped by analysts. The entertainment giant has mainly reassured the markets with lower operational losses than expected for its streaming platforms (Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu), at $ 1 billion for the period from October to December.
But the group has also announced the upcoming abolition of around 7,000 jobs. “Although it is necessary to deal with current difficulties, I do not make this decision lightly,” said Bob Iger, at a conference call. According to its annual report 2021, the group employed 190,000 people worldwide on October 2 of that year, 80 % full time. Its title took 8 % during electronic exchanges after the end of the New York Stock Exchange.
The return of Bob Iger
“We think that the work we do to transform our business around creativity, while reducing expenses, will bring sustainable growth and profitability for our streaming activities,” said Mr. Iger, quoted in the press release. Disney asked him in November to take over the position of Managing Director whom he had left in Bob Chapek in 2020, after fifteen years in this position, in order to give back the momentum.
Champion of the family and policed Disney image, he has since been faced with the profitability problems of the platforms – notably Disney+ launched with great fanfare before his departure – but also to a political showdown in Florida, where Find one of the Disney amusement parks, among the most visited in the world.
Relations between Florida Governor Ron Desantis and Disney deteriorated when Bob Chapek has publicly pronounced against a law promoted by the governor, who prohibits teaching subjects in Florida in connection with sexual orientation at primary school.
New subscription formulas
Streaming platforms have experienced flamboyant growth for years, still amplified by the pandemic, before being caught up in the economic crisis. “The growth of subscribers will not be linear every quarter,” warned in November Christine McCarthy, Disney financial director, while the Star platform had just won 12 million subscribers in a quarter.
Netflix, the veteran and leader in the sector, experienced a difficult first semester in 2022 by losing nearly 1.2 million subscribers, before rebounding this fall and this winter. The platform has more than 230 million paid subscribers but its annual net profit fell by 12 %, to 4.5 billion.
Streaming applications make the same observation as social networks like Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram: user gains no longer translate automatically into financial gains. Netflix and Disney therefore launched new cheaper subscriptions in December, with advertising, to attract even more spectators and especially to diversify their sources of income.
that of Disney+ costs $ 7.99 a month, while its basic subscription without advertising increased to $ 10.99 in the United States. By the end of 2023, the new formula should bring back more than a billion dollars in advertising revenue in the United States, according to figures from the Insider Intelligence Cabinet.