It only took barely three years for the Walt Disney group to overtake the Netflix master. Thanks to the 14.4 million new subscribers won in the second quarter of 2022 by its Disney+ video streaming platform, launched in November 2019, and including its other services Hulu and ESPN+, the American media giant recorded 221.1 million subscribers. paying users in early July. That’s 400,000 more than its big rival Netflix. The latter is thus delighted, for the first time, his world crown in number of subscribers. Disney+ alone has 152.1 million paying users.
Launched in November 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, Disney+ took full advantage of the confinements to garner subscribers looking for occupation. To lure them into its nets, in addition to using the worldwide fame of its Marvel or Star Wars headliners, the American group did not hesitate to reserve the release of several of its feature films exclusively for its platform. films, to the detriment of cinemas. Preythe new installment of its franchise predator, has only been visible on Disney+ since August 5. This strategy is also sometimes used, as in France, as a means of pressure against the time rules for the distribution of films: Avalonia, the strange journey (Strange World), Disney’s next animated film, expected this fall, will not be released in theaters in France.
Disney also benefited from a price advantage in the United States compared to Netflix: its monthly subscription cost 2 dollars (1.93 euros) less than that of Netflix, at 7.99 dollars against 9.99 dollars. The price increases imposed in October 2021 and then in January 2022 by the former world number one in video streaming played a major role in the loss of its crown. Netflix lost almost a million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022, after an initial erosion of 200,000 units at the start of the year, which had never happened to it before.
A promise of profitability in 2024
But these two and a half years of offensives have left their mark on Disney’s finances. In the second quarter of 2022 alone, the group’s three streaming platforms lost $1.1 billion. They have accumulated a total of more than 5 billion in losses since the end of 2019. Thanks to its other activities in amusement parks and television channels, the group remains profitable. But he won’t be able to keep up this pace indefinitely. He promised to make his service profitable in 2024.
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