Disney+ Hotstar's paid subscriber base rises to 35.9 million in Q4-FY24

Globally, Walt Disney had a total 174 million subscriptions for the quarter.

Walt Disney's streaming service Disney+ Hotstar added 0.4 million paid subscribers for the fourth quarter ended September 28, 2024.

Disney+ Hotstar's paid member base rose to 35.9 million for the quarter, a 1.1 percent increase from 35.5 million paid members in the previous quarter. Walt Disney, which follows an October to September financial year, shared this information in its fourth-quarter results on November 14.

This increase in subscriber base follows a series of quarterly declines. The company faced a drop in paid members in six of the last eight quarters, with exceptions in Q1-FY24, when it added 0.7 million paid subscribers, and the most recent quarter, Q4-FY24. At its peak, Disney+ Hotstar had reported 61.3 million subscribers in the quarter ending October 2022 (Q4-FY22).

During the quarter, the average monthly revenue that Disney+ Hotstar makes from each paid subscriber dipped to $0.78 from $1.05 in the previous quarter due to lower advertising revenues.

Disney+ Hotstar is currently present in India and certain Southeast Asia markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, although a majority of the subscribers are from India.

Reliance-Disney JV transaction complete

These figures come as Walt Disney and Reliance announced the completion of the transaction to form a joint venture that was first announced on February 28. The transaction combines the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India to create one of India's largest TV and digital streaming platforms.

"The combination of 'Star' and ‘Colors’ on the television side and ‘JioCinema’ and ‘Hotstar’ on the digital front will provide extensive choice of content across entertainment and sports to viewers in India and globally" the companies said in a joint statement.

JioCinema and Hotstar are two of India’s largest streaming platforms. Together, the services have a combined subscriber base of over 50 million, the firms added. They are also expected to capture about 85 percent of India’s video-streaming audience, according to analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein.

Other players in the video-streaming space in India include Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, Sony LIV, and Apple TV+.

Disney's global financial performance

Disney+ (excluding Disney+ Hotstar) added 4.4 million subscribers during the quarter. The service's subscriber base grew 4 percent to 122.7 million from 118.3 million in the previous quarter.

The United States and Canada region saw its subscriber base rise 2 percent to 56 million from 54.8 million in the previous quarter while international markets (excluding those where Disney+ Hotstar is available) had 66.7 million subscribers for the quarter, up 5 percent from 63.5 million subscribers in the previous quarter.

Including Hulu subscriptions, Walt Disney had a total 174 million subscriptions for the quarter.

The entertainment conglomerate said that its combined direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business reported an operating income of $321 million for the quarter. The segment had reported its first operating profit of $47 million in the prior quarter.

Revenue from the DTC segment increased 15 percent year-on-year to $5.78 billion for the quarter from $5.03 billion in the year-ago quarter.

"This was a pivotal and successful year for The Walt Disney Company, and thanks to the significant progress we’ve made, we have emerged from a period of considerable challenges and disruption well positioned for growth and optimistic about our future" Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.

Last year, Walt Disney restructured its business to put creativity at the centre of the company and announced a range of cost-cutting measures to achieve roughly $7.5 billion in cost reductions by the end of fiscal 2024.

"As a result of our strategies and our focus on managing our businesses for both the near- and long-term, we are differentiating ourselves from traditional competitors, leveraging the deepest and broadest set of entertainment assets in the industry to drive attractive returns and further advance our goals" Iger said.

Walt Disney's overall revenue increased 6 percent to $22.6 billion for Q4-FY24 from $21.2 billion in the same quarter last year. Operating income rose 23 percent year-on-year (YoY) to nearly $3.7 billion.

For the full year FY24, revenue grew 3 percent YoY to $91.4 billion from $88.9 billion in FY23. Operating income rose 21 percent YoY to $15.6 billion from $12.9 billion.

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