The Walt Disney Company presented its financial results for the second quarter of the year, announcing that its OTT platform reached 137.7 million clients worldwide and that it has 500 original titles in development, 200 of which come from Latin America.
This Wednesday, May 11, The Walt Disney Company announced its financial results for the second quarter of the year, revealing positive numbers for Disney+.
Subscribers
The entertainment giant’s OTT platform added 7.9 million subscribers during the period, reaching 137.7 million globally.
Thus, the platform now has 44.4 million paying customers in the US and Canada, a growth of 37.3 million a year ago. Internationally, it has 43.2 million outside of India and 50.1 in India with its Disney+ Hotstar service.
The results are within Disney+’s plans to reach between 230 and 260 million subscribers by 2024, also considering that it will be launched in more than 50 new territories in the coming months.
Disney executives said the company expects to add more subscribers in the third and fourth quarters than in the first and second, around 19.9 million.
Overall, the company now has 205 million streaming subscribers across its three direct-to-consumer offers, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
Original Programming
During the presentation, Bob Chapek, CEO of the group, revealed that Disney has about 500 local original titles in different stages of production, and that 180 of them will be released this year, with another 300 due next year.
In terms of territories, of the 500 projects, 140 are from Asia, 150 from EMEA, 100 from India and 200 from Latin America.
Unsurprisingly, the investment cost to pull off 500 projects is massive: Disney reported an operating loss of US$887 million in its direct-to-consumer segment in the second quarter, up from a loss of US$290 million a year ago.
