Cash-Strapped Disney

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Um, no the so called paying subscribers are largely everyone whose gotten an att and verizon phone since D+ launched, heck even on our business VZ account every new line or contract renewal comes with a year of ‘free’ paid by VZ D+,

So yes technically they have 100 million paid subscribers but those are vastly discounted and how many will actually convert to the end-user paid account? At present thats unknown and with the paltry offerings from D I expect conversion rate to be low

compare that to Hulu’s 39 million paid subscribers including 4 million who pay 50 buck/s month for live tv.

I have no doubt Disney has sold many subscriptions and will retain them…

that’s not the same as taking in profit though. The streaming services are a volatile business…content costs and subscription fluctuations make it very difficult to post huge “gains”

the assumption I’ve seen is that Disney is just printing money…and that makes no sense.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This thread is a joke right?

You’re here, right?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

To be honest, I don't get the narrative that Disney+ saved Disney from the financial disaster many predicted on here at the beginning of the pandemic. Disney+ is still losing significant amounts of money for them, but the results during the pandemic suggested that, overall, Disney was actually in a very healthy financial situation and managed to be able to cut back enough to avoid any real cash crunch despite being uniquely exposed.

 

[skypilot2922]

I have no doubt Disney has sold many subscriptions and will retain them…

that’s not the same as taking in profit though. The streaming services are a volatile business…content costs and subscription fluctuations make it very difficult to post huge “gains”

the assumption I’ve seen is that Disney is just printing money…and that makes no sense.

i’d like to see the breakout of ‘real’ vs promotional subscriptions. I imagine the real market will eventually roughly be the same as hulu or somewhat larger. Just like the real base of ESPN is 15-20 million subs.

I believe in streaming Disney is at the losing their shirt stage, whether they get beyond that is the question

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

To be honest, I don't get the narrative that Disney+ saved Disney from the financial disaster many predicted on here at the beginning of the pandemic. Disney+ is still losing significant amounts of money for them, but the results during the pandemic suggested that, overall, Disney was actually in a very healthy financial situation and managed to be able to cut back enough to avoid any real cash crunch despite being uniquely exposed.

This is accurate

they’re a juggernaut…they secured funding before the crunch hit (google it)…and we don’t know for sure what kinda government “milk” they may have gotten?

but they wouldn’t have had to ask twice.

 

[skypilot2922]

This is accurate

they’re a juggernaut…they secured funding before the crunch hit (google it)…and we don’t know for sure what kinda government “milk” they may have gotten?

but they wouldn’t have had to ask twice.

Large infusions of corporate welfare are keeping Disney afloat of that I have no doubt. Its too bad that same largesse was not available to most small businesses

 

[mikejs78]

Um, no the so called paying subscribers are largely everyone whose gotten an att and verizon phone since D+ launched, heck even on our business VZ account every new line or contract renewal comes with a year of ‘free’ paid by VZ D+,

So yes technically they have 100 million paid subscribers but those are vastly discounted and how many will actually convert to the end-user paid account? At present thats unknown and with the paltry offerings from D I expect conversion rate to be low

compare that to Hulu’s 39 million paid subscribers including 4 million who pay 50 buck/s month for live tv.

I have no doubt Disney has sold many subscriptions and will retain them…

that’s not the same as taking in profit though. The streaming services are a volatile business…content costs and subscription fluctuations make it very difficult to post huge “gains”

the assumption I’ve seen is that Disney is just printing money…and that makes no sense.

Um, no the so called paying subscribers are largely everyone whose gotten an att and verizon phone since D+ launched, heck even on our business VZ account every new line or contract renewal comes with a year of ‘free’ paid by VZ D+,

So yes technically they have 100 million paid subscribers but those are vastly discounted and how many will actually convert to the end-user paid account? At present thats unknown and with the paltry offerings from D I expect conversion rate to be low

compare that to Hulu’s 39 million paid subscribers including 4 million who pay 50 buck/s month for live tv.

The vzw plan was only good for a year. Most of the initial sign ups were when D+ started, and their subscriber numbers have not gone down. Conversion has been pretty high. This argument was proved moot last November.

Regarding profitability, yes, they aren't profitable yet and to say D+ saved the company is hyperbole. But that was never the plan to be profitable at this point, either.

I can tell you that for myself and many friends in my age group, D+ is probably our #1 streaming service. If I had to cancel some, D+ would be the last to go. But that's me.

I think you're letting your personal dissatisfaction with the content of D+ color your judgement about its business success which has far outpaced their initial projections.

 

[seascape]

To be honest, I don't get the narrative that Disney+ saved Disney from the financial disaster many predicted on here at the beginning of the pandemic. Disney+ is still losing significant amounts of money for them, but the results during the pandemic suggested that, overall, Disney was actually in a very healthy financial situation and managed to be able to cut back enough to avoid any real cash crunch despite being uniquely exposed.

I wish everyone understood that whether or not Disney+ is profitable has nothing to do with the fact that the Walt Disney Company is much more profitable with Disney+ than they were with Netfilx paying them $300 million a year. Disney+ is still losing money because they pay the various Disney owned studios for the content and hundreds of millions more a year. As for the revenue from Disney+ vs Hulu, Hulu still exceeds Disney+.

 

[skypilot2922]

The verizon and att plans are still giving out free subs. And if take it unless you deliberately cancel the fee is added to phone bill

 

[Snow Queen 83]

Poor Disney is only worth 320 billion dollars. They better pack a lunch in a cheap paper bag.

 

[Cadbury]

Poor Disney is only worth 320 billion dollars. They better pack a lunch in a cheap paper bag.

Let's just pretend Scrooge is Disney.....

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The vzw plan was only good for a year. Most of the initial sign ups were when D+ started, and their subscriber numbers have not gone down. Conversion has been pretty high. This argument was proved moot last November.

Regarding profitability, yes, they aren't profitable yet and to say D+ saved the company is hyperbole. But that was never the plan to be profitable at this point, either.

I can tell you that for myself and many friends in my age group, D+ is probably our #1 streaming service. If I had to cancel some, D+ would be the last to go. But that's me.

I think you're letting your personal dissatisfaction with the content of D+ color your judgement about its business success which has far outpaced their initial projections.

I like Disney plus. It’s just not being framed properly by the praetorians.

I wish everyone understood that whether or not Disney+ is profitable has nothing to do with the fact that the Walt Disney Company is much more profitable with Disney+ than they were with Netfilx paying them $300 million a year. Disney+ is still losing money because they pay the various Disney owned studios for the content and hundreds of millions more a year. As for the revenue from Disney+ vs Hulu, Hulu still exceeds Disney+.

This is true. But it isn’t a reason why stock prices goes up 70% when the business was shut down…and that’s what D+ has been touted as.

the money guys tell you what they’re worth…and people just go along with it. Great system if you can get it.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Let's just pretend Scrooge is Disney.....

 

[Cadbury]

View attachment 574573

Scrooge, Chapek....same difference.

 

[celluloid]

As a child of the 80’s, I don’t get why no one seems interested in capitalizing on the nostalgia of those of us now in our late-30’s-40’s between Disney or Nickelodeon. When Disney+ came out talking about opening the archives, I thought I might get to see Dumbo’s Flying Circus again (the one show I remember from free Disney Channel previews as a kid). Nickelodeon seems to view its classics as starting with Doug and Rugrats (both of which started when I was aging out of Nickelodeon programming), but no re-releases or streaming of “You Can’t Do That on Television,” “Out of Control,” “Pinwheel,” or probably a dozen other shows they could pop back out for next to nothing to appeal to the nostalgia of the current/recent generation of folks that might’ve wanted to share some of those with their own kids. For whatever reason, I’m guessing the first 10-12 years of cable tv may just remain in the past.

check Paramount Plus. They at least have some of Salute Your Shorts, all of Double Dare, a good collection of Nicktoons like Kablam! as well as all of The Legends of The Hidden Temple and Guts! You Can't Do That on Televiison is also on there in its entireity. HBOMAX and Paramount Plus came in stronger than Disney Plus. I think that is another reason it is going to be a tough fight.

 

[Cadbury]

check Paramount Plus. They at least have some of Salute Your Shorts, all of Double Dare, a good collection of Nicktoons like Kablam! as well as all of The Legends of The Hidden Temple and Guts! You Can't Do That on Televiison is also on there in its entireity. HBOMAX and Paramount Plus came in stronger than Disney Plus. I think that is another reason it is going to be a tough fight.

 

[celluloid]

It is the reason I had my free trial. And the reason I let it go is I was sad that they were satisfied with a few chronologically and then then it jumps to a few from the second season. I am happy my six year old son now knows of Zeke The Plumber and loves the theme song.

 

[Archie123]

This thread is a joke right?

It's not and if you don't believe me then ask WDW Pro. He is an "insider" with over 80% accuracy with his posts.

 

[Cadbury]

It is the reason I had my free trial. And the reason I let it go is I was sad that they were satisfied with a few chronologically and then then it jumps to a few from the second season. I am happy my six year old son now knows of Zeke The Plumber and loves the theme song.

Now this was one character that gave kids nightmares. lmao

 

[doctornick]

The verizon and att plans are still giving out free subs. And if take it unless you deliberately cancel the fee is added to phone bill

You keep talking about this but I’m not sure what your point is. The Verizon and AT&T subs are “free” for the consumer but Disney absolutely gets money for them - it’s just the subscription free is paid for by Verizon and AT&T. Now obviously they are getting that at a discounted rate but it’s still added revenue for Disney.

I’d be curious as the the numbers (how many people get such “free” service and how much Verizon, etc pays for it) but it’s basically pure profit for Disney as the marginal expense of those new additional subs is minuscule. And the more subs/revenue, the easier it is to justify spending on more original programming. And more original programming is how you drive future subs and retention. As has been mentioned, there was no drop off when the (large) first round of Verizon “free” subscriptions ended so D+ seems to have good retention. (Or at least there’s been no evidence they have had retention “problems”)