Disney announced price hikes across its entire streaming catalog, including Hulu and ESPN+.
Transcript:
CONWAY GITTENS: Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Wall Street is in recovery mode – helped by the latest round of corporate earnings. E-commerce platform Shopify posted a better-than-expected 21 percent jump in second-quarter revenue. Lyft topped sales forecasts, and for the first time in the company’s history – it posted a net profit.
And speaking of auspicious milestones… Walt Disney’s streaming service is profitable for the first time since launching Disney+ back in 2019. The Disney streaming bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, saw a quarterly operating profit of $47 million.
In a statement from CEO Bob Iger’s executive team: “The combination of exceptional content and a broad brand portfolio is the key to our success as we build streaming into a profitable growth business for the company over the long term. We were pleased to see our combined streaming business profitable in the third quarter ahead of our guidance, and we remain on track for that profitability to improve in Q4.”
Disney says its streaming business is benefitting from positive overflow from its film business. It says it saw a spike in new subscribers eager to catch up before sequels or new installments in a franchise hit the big screen.
However, the monthly price tag for access to all that content is going up. Disney+ with ads will go to $9.99 from $7.99 in October, without ads the price goes up to $15.99 from $13.99. Hulu goes to $9.99 with ads, and $18.99 without. ESPN+ will go up a buck, to $11.99.
In an attempt to better compete with Netflix, a new Disney bundle that includes Max from Warner Bros. Discovery will cost $30 a month.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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