Disney
’s
DIS
recently held annual investor day presentation focused heavily on direct-to-consumer streaming services, which include Disney+.
The company now expects to see between 230 million and 260 million subscribers on Disney+ by 2024, which basically triples its prior guidance of reaching between 60 million and 90 million subscribers by 2024.
While the company expects Disney+ operating loss to peak in fiscal 2021, it forecasts the streaming service to attain profitability in fiscal 2024.
Moreover, Hulu (including Hulu+ Live TV service) is expected to garner 50-60 million subscribers by the end of 2024 while ESPN+ is expected to reach between 20 million and 30 million subscribers and hit profitability in fiscal 2023. Across its streaming services including Hulu and ESPN+, Disney forecasts 300-350 million subscribers by 2024.
Markedly, the company’s portfolio of direct-to-consumer services has exceeded a total of 137 million global paid subscriptions including 11.5 million ESPN+ subscribers, 38.8 million Hulu subscribers, and a staggering 86.8 million Disney+ subscribers since its launch in November 2019.
Disney’s bullish projections for the streaming service are based in part on the high-profile—and high-cost shows and movies it is making for Disney+ through its Marvel and Lucasfilm productions.
Markedlym shares of the company have returned 6.9% in the year-to-date period, outperforming Zacks
Media Conglomerates
industry’s rally of 5.7%.
Year-to-Date Performance
Disney Ramps Up Production for Streaming Content
Disney plans to shell out $14-$16 billion in global direct-to-consumer content expenses across Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus in fiscal 2024 as it ramps up original series and films to compete with
Netflix
NFLX
, which dominates the streaming market with 195 million paying subscribers at the end of October.
Disney plans to release 100 new titles per year that include 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series, 15 Disney live-action, Disney Animation, and Pixar series and 15 Disney live action, Disney Animation, and Pixar films.
The company revealed that several new films will debut exclusively on Disney+, including live-action versions of
Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Wendy
and
Disenchanted
, a sequel to the film Enchanted while it allocated $8-$9 billion of its content budget to Disney+ alone.
On the theatrical side, Disney is keeping its Marvel film
Black Widow
on the schedule for release in May. Moreover,
Jungle Cruise
is expected to hit theaters in July 2021 while the final
Indiana Jones
film is slated to come out in 2022 followed by a new
Star Wars
movie,
Rogue Squadron
in 2023.
Additionally, as part of a new strategy, Disney will be releasing select new films on its streaming platform and in theaters on the same day, including
Raya and the Last Dragon
following the success of
Mulan
in September.
Disney’s announcement follows
AT&T Inc’s
T
plans to debut all 17 of its 2021 movies on its HBO Max streaming service on the same day they hit theaters.
Moreover, the company struck a deal with
Comcast
CMCSA
to bring Disney+ and ESPN+ to the cable provider’s Xfinity set top boxes and platforms and reach more than 20 million Comcast cable and Internet customers.
Furthermore, Disney is set to raise the monthly price of Disney+ $1 to $7.99 next March as it is dramatically increasing its spending on TV shows and movies for the service.
Subscribers can choose to pay $7.99 monthly or $79.99 for the year. The move also raises the price of the three-service bundle Disney offers in the United States — Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus will now cost $13.99/month bundled.
Disney Unveils Star for International Disney Plus Subscribers
Disney unveiled its upcoming international general entertainment content brand called Star to cater to its international audiences. Star will be fully integrated into Disney+ for subscribers in Europe, Canada, and New Zealand.
Shows from FX and movies from 20th Century Studios will be available to stream. The streamer will also have localized content for various countries in which it operates.
Star will be launched on Feb 23, 2021 in select international markets followed by Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea later in 2021.
Moreover, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company is also introducing Star+ standalone streaming service to Latin American subscribers in June 2021. Star+ will carry Disney-owned entertainment and an array of live sports from ESPN, including top soccer leagues and grand slam tennis among others.
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.
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