PREVIEW ☀️DISNEY+ US subs growth stalls, as 37% price hike comes in December
Steve Martin getting APPLE TV docu / Q2's bleak US streaming growth / Jon Hamm returns to a Drama TV series
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY August 11, 2022.
Where good news PICKLEBALL fans… You can now watch it on TV! Well at least once, and on a Saturday afternoon, but CBS will air the Sketchers Invitational this weekend for any diehards needing a fix.
Bateman any chance you’d consider dusting off the Pepper Brooks outfit?
ALSO: Just a housekeeping note - if you had an exceptional Summer Intern this year… what better way to say thanks than expensing giving them an annual subscription to The Ankler as a thank you before they go back to school? (The Wakeup is included of course).
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IN THIS EDITION
#MediaNerd returns to break down exactly what’s going on behind those “DISNEY matches NETFLIX subscriber count” headlines out there yesterday.
Hint: It’s basically the “minutes streamed” of subscriber counts - not really what it seems.
A look at the bleak US Streaming service Subscriber “growth” in Q2.
Steve Martin is getting 2 part docu at APPLE and more
PLUS:
A brand new Ankler Hot Seat podcast with yours truly, Janice & Richard from his Covid basement (hope you’re feeling better this morning!) goes up today:
Looking at the DISNEY+ numbers no one is talking about - namely where all that subscriber growth you’re seeing in every headline this morning… actually came from.
Setting out the upside for the long game DISNEY+ is playing for the whole DISNEY business. Eventually.
It’ll be up later this morning so be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, or here on APPLE or SPOTIFY easy enough.
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
#medianerd in high gear today
DISNEY+’s Q2 Earnings Report gets positive reception… but a peek under the Subscriber growth hood reveals a lot
Wall Street liked what they heard, as DIS 0.00%↑ stock was up almost 7% last night. Although their Theme Parks biz had a lot to do with it as they had a huge quarter #ThanksSpringBreak!
But the Street also loves a price hike… and since that’s what the US consumer will actually see out of all this news, I’ll start there. But first…
THE SEAN’S NOTES
Hey Cliff can get his own newsletter.
DISNEY+ Ad-Supported version launches Dec 8, US-only at $8 a month, with Int’l to follow 2023 TBA.
DISNEY is significantly raising prices on all Streaming services by year’s end, putting it on even pricing level with HBOMAX & NETFLIX.
Headlines touting “DISNEY catches NETFLIX in subscriber count” are technically correct… but are rather misleading in what they are inferring. I’ll explain.
DIS+ beat subscriber add expectations - but this is once again mostly due to a lotta low-cost Cricket subs and entering new countries. Oh and basically… zero USA growth here.
DISNEY Streaming lost even more outrageous 💰 amounts in Q2… but they planted a flag in the ground saying when they’ll reach profitability - which is strikingly similar to HBOMAX’s.
NOW: Details on all of this and more… #medianerd🤓 take the wheel.
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