OLD Media News

Streaming service pushes Disney to surprise profit for Q1

Disney reported a surprising profit for the last quarter of 2020–and its first fiscal one–driven by millions in new Disney+ subscriptions.

Jon Swartz from MarketWatch reported:

Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service, Disney+, proved again to be a big plus during a pandemic that has all but shuttered the Magic Kingdom’s other businesses. And that had Disney shares up 3% in after-hours trading Thursday.

A surge in Disney+ subscriptions, to 94.9 million, led a revenue rebound from the previous quarter as the media giant continues to double-down on direct-to-consumer sales.

CNN’s Frank Pallotta wrote:

Disney’s revenue came in at $16.2 billion, which was down 22% from last year, the company said during its first quarter earnings on Thursday. While the revenue was a decline from last year, it was above Wall Street expectations.

Profits also continued to take a hit as the company reported $29 million in this quarter, down 99% from $2.1 billion last year.

CNBC’s Lauren Feiner and Sarah Whitten noted:

Average monthly revenue per paid Disney+ subscriber, however, dipped 28% compared with the same quarter last year, from $5.56 to $4.03. That’s because this number now includes subscribers to Disney+ Hotstar, which launched in India and Indonesia last year. The service has lower average monthly revenue per paid subscriber than traditional Disney+ in other markets, pulling down the overall average for the quarter.

Irina Slav

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

9 hours ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

9 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

9 hours ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

10 hours ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

10 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

10 hours ago