BURBANK, Calif.—The Walt Disney Company has finally delivered some from profits from its hefty streaming investments, with the second quarter of its fiscal year ending March 30, 2024 producing $47 million in operating income in its direct-to-consumer segment as Disney+ core subscribers increased by more than 6 million in the second quarter.
While the company expects to report a small loss in its Q3 fiscal year in the DTC segment, it reported that “we continue to expect our combined streaming businesses to be profitable in the fourth quarter, and to be a meaningful future growth driver for the company, with further improvements in profitability in fiscal 2025.”
Disney stock was however down by 9.7% at 11:06 a.m. ET as revenue declined in its more traditional TV and network businesses.
Overall Disney+ core subscribers (excluding its Indian Hotstar operations) grew by 6% from a year earlier to 117.6 million as U.S./Canada Disney+ subs hit 54.0 million, up 17% from a year earlier.
Hulu subs increased by 2% from a year earlier to 45.8 million while its vMVPD offering Hulu+Live TV lost 2% of its subs and ended the quarter at 4.5 million.
Total revenue for the whole company in the quarter increased to $22.1 billion from $21.8 billion in the prior-year quarter, lower than analysts expectations while earnings per share at $1.21 beat them.
“Our strong performance in Q2, with adjusted EPS up 30% compared to the prior year, demonstrates we are delivering on our strategic priorities and building for the future,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “Our results were driven in large part by our Experiences segment as well as our streaming business. Importantly, entertainment streaming was profitable for the quarter, and we remain on track to achieve profitability in our combined streaming businesses in Q4.
