Disney and Hulu Turn Profitable: The Future of Streaming Looks Bright

In the past quarter, both Disney Plus and Hulu made a profit for the first time, with a combined earnings of $47 million. This represents a significant improvement from the $587 million loss reported in the same period last year. However, ESPN Plus still suffered a loss of $65 million, resulting in a combined streaming losses of $18 million.

Despite this setback, Disney remains optimistic about the future of its streaming business. The company expects its streaming operations to become profitable in the fourth quarter of this year. During an earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger emphasized the importance of streaming and stated that it will be a growth driver for the company in the future.

Disney Plus gained 7.9 million subscribers in the US and Canada over the past few months, bringing the total number of subscribers to 54 million. The company recently launched a combined Disney Plus and Hulu app, with plans to integrate ESPN Plus into it as well. A new ESPN Plus tile will be added to Disney Plus this fall, allowing all subscribers to access select live games and studio programming within the app.

One factor that may have contributed to Disney’s improved performance is its growth ad-supported tier. The company introduced a $7.99 per month option in December 2022 and has been encouraging subscribers to choose this tier. Disney’s deal with cable provider Charter helped drive this growth, which ended the quarter with 22.5 million subscribers.

In addition to these developments, Disney also has plans to launch standalone ESPN streaming service in fall 2025 as well as dedicated sports streaming service later this year alongside Warner Bros Discovery and Fox collaboration – indicating continued investment and commitment towards growing its streaming business further