Disney+ Hotstar loses around 40 lakh subscribers in the first quarter; read why
Disney+ Hotstar confirms its flagship streaming service lost 4m users in the first three months of the year amid a more comprehensive cost-cutting campaign.
Simultaneously, the Disney+ Hotstar platform capped its losses by $400m (£316.5m).
The House of Mickey Mouse, the Star Wars universe and Marvel films is under pressure to make their streaming partner boom as the classic movie and television market shrinks.
Shares in the firm dropped by about 5% in after-hours trading in New York.
Most user losses came from its Hotstar service in Asia, which lost streaming contracts to Indian cricket games last year. After increasing subscription costs, Disney+ also lost about 300,000 users in the US and Canada.
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It arrives as Disney’s streaming company lowered its operating losses to $659m for the first three months of this year. That was lower than $1.1bn in the last quarter.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger said the improved economic performance reflects “the strategic differences we’ve been making throughout the firm to realign Disney for sustained development and success.”
He earlier said Disney+ had reached a “turning point” and would become prosperous by next year. Before this year, the entertainment firm reported its first fall in customer numbers and revealed plans to slash 7,000 jobs.
The latest announcement arrives after thousands of Hollywood TV and film screenwriters held their first strike in 15 years last week.
