Streaming service wars news and trends 4 4

[media_junkie]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:17 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

Hmmmm....what is that old saying, ah yes, "Get woke, go broke."

[paperheart]

Mkt cap up $17B after hours- nearly broke

[Bosco685]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:27 PM, media_junkie said:

Hmmmm....what is that old saying, ah yes, "Get woke, go broke."

They all watched Wakanda Forever to make it the #1 streamed Disney+ movie before going

[Bosco685]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:02 PM, paperheart said:

Mkt cap up $17B after hours- nearly broke

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Bosco685

[1Cool]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:17 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

They will be back once the new Mandalorian comes out.  Tough business when only a hit show keeps people willing to shell out $8 a month.

[media_junkie]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:02 PM, paperheart said:

Mkt cap up $17B after hours- nearly broke

Yup, just a few more $$ to go.

[MattTheDuck]

Apparently most of the “lost” subscribers are in India and dropped when Disney lost the contract to carry cricket matches.  These are mostly very low profit or unprofitable subscribers so it’s actually a net positive, profit-wise

[Bosco685]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:51 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Apparently most of the “lost” subscribers are in India and dropped when Disney lost the contract to carry cricket matches.  These are mostly very low profit or unprofitable subscribers so it’s actually a net positive, profit-wise

Because they are in India so therefore they are low-profit/unprofitable?

[Bosco685]

And it looks like those cricket rights loss to Viacom could impact Disney's target growth for 2024.

Iger will find other paths for growth with his restructuring.

[drotto]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:09 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

I believe it was further stated that $3 billion of the cuts would come from content creation.  That means less shows and movies, and budget cuts are coming for things that are being made.

[drotto]

On 2/9/2023 at 4:52 AM, Bosco685 said:

Because they are in India so therefore they are low-profit/unprofitable?

 

As for the price, the Disney Plus Hotstar Mobile subscription is available in a couple of tiers: quarterly and yearly. Here’s how much they cost:

• 3 months: Rs 149 ($1.81)
• 12 months: Rs 499 ($6.05)

We do also have to keep in mind that many subscriptions in the US and Europe are perks for certain mobile companies, so they are effectively free accounts also.

[MattTheDuck]

On 2/9/2023 at 1:52 AM, Bosco685 said:

Because they are in India so therefore they are low-profit/unprofitable?

Well, it's what they pay rather than where they're physically located although the two things seem related at least.  The service costs quite a bit less there than it does in the US, Europe, etc but there's very little cost difference for Disney in running it.  The ARPU in India is the lowest in the DIS+ system.

[Bosco685]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:25 AM, drotto said:

 

As for the price, the Disney Plus Hotstar Mobile subscription is available in a couple of tiers: quarterly and yearly. Here’s how much they cost:

• 3 months: Rs 149 ($1.81)
• 12 months: Rs 499 ($6.05)

We do also have to keep in mind that many subscriptions in the US and Europe are perks for certain mobile companies, so they are effectively free accounts also.

 

On 2/9/2023 at 10:56 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Well, it's what they pay rather than where they're physically located although the two things seem related at least.  The service costs quite a bit less there than it does in the US, Europe, etc but there's very little cost difference for Disney in running it.  The ARPU in India is the lowest in the DIS+ system.

There's a reason why both companies bid so high to beat out competitors like Sony: the volume of potential subscribers.

Disney and Viacom18 winners in $6.2 billion cricket rights

Quote

Disney, which through its subsidiary Star India held the previous five-year media rights for IPL, has seen the sporting event help its streaming service Hotstar attract tens of millions of subscribers and break several global streaming records.

 

Without the streaming rights, Hotstar will face an increased pressure in retaining subscribers. The streamer says it has about 50 million paying subscribers. Disney CEO Bob Chapek has pledged to take Disney+’s subscriber base to 260 million by 2024.

So as I noted in the previous post Disney+ is having to reassess its 2024 targets. And also the deal involves more than India, which Iger noted the other day as part of the losses. Though the games are in India.

Quote

Viacom18 will also stream the matches in Australia, South Africa, and the UK, the board said.

 

[drotto]

On 2/9/2023 at 11:45 AM, Bosco685 said:

 

There's a reason why both companies bid so high to beat out competitors like Sony: the volume of potential subscribers.

Disney and Viacom18 winners in $6.2 billion cricket rights

So as I noted in the previous post Disney+ is having to reassess its 2024 targets. And also the deal involves more than India, which Iger noted the other day as part of the losses. Though the games are in India.

 

The fact remains that 2 of 3 Dinsey revenue streams (under the new proposed restructuring) remain good, ESPN and the Parks (this also includes the cruise line).  The entertainment branch which includes streaming, series, and movies is struggling.  The analogy I heard was D+ right now is losing money equivalent to sinking one of the cruise ships every quarter.  So basically you have two branches propping up a struggling one. 

 

The question is how long is this sustainable?  The ESPN branch should be safe,  but if your IP's begin to suffer because the entertainment branch is struggling in putting out good and appealing content, when does that start to spill over into the park side of things which require healthy IP's? Also, you have Universal being very aggressive, and opening a complete new gate, with the extremely strong Nintendo IP (arguably the strongest IP right now) as the cornerstone. Disney on the theme park side is arguably facing it's stiffest competition ever.

[Gatsby77]

https://deadline.com/2023/02/disney-bob-iger-open-to-selling-hulu-1235254445/

Believe this is the first time Disney's stated publicly they may be open to selling Hulu.

Rebuttable presumption was they were always going to buy Comcast out early next year.

[Bosco685]

On 2/9/2023 at 1:00 PM, drotto said:

The fact remains that 2 of 3 Dinsey revenue streams (under the new proposed restructuring) remain good, ESPN and the Parks (this also includes the cruise line).  The entertainment branch which includes streaming, series, and movies is struggling.  The analogy I heard was D+ right now is losing money equivalent to sinking one of the cruise ships every quarter.  So basically you have two branches propping up a struggling one. 

 

The question is how long is this sustainable?  The ESPN branch should be safe,  but if your IP's begin to suffer because the entertainment branch is struggling in putting out good and appealing content, when does that start to spill over into the park side of things which require healthy IP's? Also, you have Universal being very aggressive, and opening a complete new gate, with the extremely strong Nintendo IP (arguably the strongest IP right now) as the cornerstone. Disney on the theme park side is arguably facing it's stiffest competition ever.

Smart on Disney bringing back a seasoned leader. Now is not the time for weak-kneed experiments.

[drotto]

On 2/9/2023 at 3:04 PM, Bosco685 said:

Smart on Disney bringing back a seasoned leader. Now is not the time for weak-kneed experiments.

Not 100% sold on that.  He is the one who way overpaid for FOX, and many of the projects like Lightyear, and Strange Worlds were started under his watch. So some of the current problems you could argue are of his making. Not saying his succesor did a good job, but it is short sighted to put all the blame on him.

 

Also Iger is continuing with the layoffs, restructuring, and cost cutting that upset so many people were upset with.

[Bosco685]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:55 PM, drotto said:

Not 100% sold on that.  He is the one who way overpaid for FOX, and many of the projects like Lightyear, and Strange Worlds were started under his watch. So some of the current problems you could argue are of his making. Not saying his succesor did a good job, but it is short sighted to put all the blame on him.

 

Also Iger is continuing with the layoffs, restructuring, and cost cutting that upset so many people were upset with.

Not implying Iger has done everything wonderful as a leader. I think the Fox deal with a real burden on Disney's balance sheet for the sake of packing Disney+ with content. And yet that platform has lost Disney money from the financials that came out.

But blowing off subscribers loss as low-paying/no-paying people when it turns out it is tens of millions of potential subscribers misses the future planning point. 

[1Cool]

Just logged into Hulu since I’ve not checked it out in awhile and there is nothing on here worth watching.  Some old movies I’d not mind watching some days but it’s not a service I’d pay for if it wasn’t combo up with others.

[drotto]

On 2/9/2023 at 6:14 PM, Bosco685 said:

Not implying Iger has done everything wonderful as a leader. I think the Fox deal with a real burden on Disney's balance sheet for the sake of packing Disney+ with content. And yet that platform has lost Disney money from the financials that came out.

But blowing off subscribers loss as low-paying/no-paying people when it turns out it is tens of millions of potential subscribers misses the future planning point. 

Well the larger problem is the US/Canadian subscribe base has become stagnant.   Yes, they are getting new subs, but for the most part they are offset by losses. Iger even mentioned this issue in the call when he said people will sub for a month or two, drop, and resub a few months down the road for a period to watch new content.  The larger issue is the stagnant subs here are not offsetting the lkst subs in India.

 

This could also get compounded if they are forced to cut costs with content creation.  He revealed $3 billion in cuts will be in the creation divisions.  Now if new content is what drives potential new subs, but you cut cost leading to less and/or lower quality content, why do people sub or stay subbed? 

 

Now Netflix has seen a strong resurgence in subs in the last quarter,  I believe they are up 7 million.   Now this is likely driven be Dahmer and Wednesday, but it is significant. Netflix did cut content creation, but they still produce a massive amount of programing.  If one or two out of 30 or more hit, they are golden.  On the other hand, D+ is releasing 5 or 6 shows per quarter, if that? It is a very different model, and Disney likely can't do this, or feels thr number of misses Netflix endures could be brand damaging.