The Walt Disney Co. is seeing trouble on the horizon for its Disney+ streaming service, causing the studio to substantially lower the number of subscribers it expects to have by 2024.
In its earnings announcement Wednesday, the company lowered its Disney+ guidance to 215 million to 245 million subscribers by 2024, down from 230 million to 260 million. The decision comes as the current economic recession weighs on consumers, with the soaring prices of food and energy forcing families to curtail spending on non-necessities.
In addition, Disney announced steep price hikes on Disney+ and Hulu, with the price of a Disney+ subscription jumping nearly 40 percent. The price increases are likely to cause a significant chunk of customers to cancel their subscriptions — a phenomenon that Netflix experienced the last time it raised prices.
Disney also lost its streaming rights for the Indian Premier League — a professional cricket association — which is expected to negatively impact subscriber numbers for India’s Disney+ Hotstar.
Hotstar reportedly makes up about 36 percent of the Disney+ subscriber base.
The revised guidance didn’t seem to spook investors Wednesday, with Disney shares climbing 7 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported better-than-expected subscriber numbers for Disney+ in the most recent quarter.
As Breitbart News reported, Hollywood streaming services, including Disney+ and HBO Max, are facing a major challenge in their efforts to expand their subscriber bases. New data reveal customer churn has become a problem as streamers are failing to retain subscribers who sign up around the release of a hotly anticipated new movie or TV show.
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