Disney+ Powers to Nearly 138 Million Subscribers, Beating Streaming Expectations for March Quarter

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorDisney+ kept its momentum fully charged as the streamer handily topped Wall Street growth forecasts for the March 2022 quarter.Disney’s flagship streamer gained 7.9 million customers in the first three months of 2022, to stand at 137.7 million, up 33% year over year.

Analysts on average expected Disney+ to net 5.2 million new subscribers, per FactSet.The results come after rival Netflix reported a loss of 200,000 streaming subscribers for the same period and forecast a 2 million drop for Q2, leading investors to fear a sector-wide slowdown after a pandemic-fueled surge over the last two years.

Disney+’s strong gains dispell that notion and suggest that the Mouse House is stealing market share from Netflix. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more.Overall, Disney beat on the top line but missed on the bottom.

The company reported revenue of $19.25 billion (up 23%) and earnings of 26 cents per share. Wall Street on average expected Disney to post revenue of $18.91 billion and earnings per share of $1.07 for the quarter, which is Disney’s Q2 of fiscal year 2022, per Refinitiv data.Disney’s revenue for the quarter ended April 2, 2022, took a $1 billion hit, which it said was “for the amount due to a customer to early-terminate license agreements for film and television content” delivered in previous years so that it could use the content “primarily on our direct-to-consumer services.” That could be a reference to Disney’s former licensing deal with Netflix.Shares of Disney trended up over 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday.