this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Do we have concrete evidence that this is true? I find it highly unlikely Disney+ was hemorrhaging money considering all the parents that are indefinitely subbed to D+ for the Disney catalogue.
Unless the original programming like all the Marvel TV shows (which are pretty low quality scripts) and the remakes (which are low quality) really cost that much to make.
They should report the losses at earning calls and i think they did. But i am to lazy to look it up.
Direct to consumer media lost $659M in Q1 this year https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/2023/05/q2-fy23-earnings.pdf
They describe in in their filings like this
Direct-to-Consumer Direct-to-Consumer revenues for the quarter increased 12% to $5.5 billion and operating loss decreased $0.2 billion to $0.7 billion. The decrease in operating loss was due to improved results at Disney+ and ESPN+, partially offset by lower operating income at Hulu.
The improvement at Disney+ was due to higher subscription revenue and a decrease in marketing costs, partially offset by higher programming and production costs and, to a lesser extent, increased technology costs. Higher subscription revenue was attributable to subscriber growth and increases in retail pricing, partially offset by an unfavorable foreign exchange impact. The increase in programming and production costs was due to more content provided on the service. Improved results at ESPN+ were attributable to growth in subscription revenue due to an increase in retail pricing and subscriber growth.
The decrease in operating income at Hulu was due to higher programming and production costs and lower advertising revenue, partially offset by subscription revenue growth and, to a lesser extent, lower marketing costs. The increase in programming and production costs was attributable to more content provided on the service and an increase in subscriber-based fees for programming the Live TV service, partially offset by a lower average cost mix of SVOD content. Higher subscriber-based fees for programming the Live TV service were due to rate increases and more subscribers. The decrease in advertising revenue resulted from lower impressions, partially offset by higher rates. Subscription revenue growth was due to increases in retail pricing and subscribers.