Disney announced on Wednesday that it has added roughly seven million new members to its streaming service, reversing a period of decline that had cast doubt on its ability to compete with Netflix, the market leader.
Ever since CEO Bob Iger departed the firm a year ago to be called out of semi-retirement because the board and management no longer trusted his replacement, Disney has been under intense pressure.
After his return, Iger launched a cost-cutting drive that resulted in significant reductions to the extravagant expenditures made to launchDisney+.
Disney’s streaming losses decreased to USD 387 million in the latest quarter from USD 1.47 billion in the same period last year thanks to these initiatives.
The number of Disney Plus subscribers increased from 105.7 million at the end of June to 112.6 million at the end of September.
If one includes those who subscribe to a Hotstar Disney+ bundle that is available in India and other countries, the total number of subscribers comes to 150.2 million.
“Our results this quarter reflect the significant progress we’ve made over the past year,” Iger said, pointing to the success of Disney+’s recently added ad-supported tier.
“While we still have work to do, these efforts have allowed us to move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again,” Iger said.
The solid quarter may bring back confidence in Iger who had begun to face criticism for his once celebrated decisions such as paying massively in 2019 to buy 21st Century Fox from Rupert Murdoch.
