The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shares traded in positive territory in Thursday’s early premarket, as sentiments evidently favouring plans to increase streaming prices and possibly clampdown on password sharing.
In New York, Disney stock was up US$1.27 or 1.145% changing hands at US$88.76.
It follows last night’s results that revealed falling subscriber numbers in streaming – which comprises the Disney+, Hulu and ESPN platforms.
After Wednesday’s market close Disney delivered somewhat tepid results with revenue of $22.33 billion slightly behind Street expectations of $22.5 billion, along with earnings of $1.03 per share, compared to projections of $0.95.
Disney+ subscribers declined 7.4% quarter-over-quarter and at 146.1 million, came in below the 151.1 million predicted across the market. Separately, losing the broadcast rights to Indian Premier League cricket cost the Disney+ Hotstar unit in India around 25% of its subscribers.
Bob Iger, chief executive, said the firm had a lot of "work to do", indicating as well that the company might follow Netflix and Introduce a password-sharing crackdown.
“We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing,” Iger said in the post-results conference suggesting it might come in as early as 2024.
Disney “will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies” later this year, Iger said, and will also “roll out tactics to drive monetization”.
Disney+ is also introducing a new standard tier as an intermediate option between the basic and premium subscriptions.
The standard plan won't have ads but streaming will be capped and it won’t support Atmos.
In the results statement, meanwhile, Igor commented: “Our results this quarter are reflective of what we’ve accomplished through the unprecedented transformation we’re undertaking at Disney to restructure the company, improve efficiencies, and restore creativity to the center of our business,” CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.
“In the eight months since my return, these important changes are creating a more cost-effective, coordinated, and streamlined approach to our operations that has put us on track to exceed our initial goal of $5.5 billion in savings as well as improved our direct-to-consumer operating income by roughly $1 billion in just three quarters.”