As streaming becomes the focus, Disney+ attracts 73 million subscribers

Disney will hold a virtual investor day on December 10 to further elaborate on its direct-to-consumer plans. Some investors hope that Disney will use this conference to announce more obvious attempts at sports streaming. Mr. Chapek said on the conference call: “We will set sail in the Disney+ business.”

Mr. Chapek took over as Disney’s chief executive officer in February and recently reorganized the company to bring streaming services closer to Disney’s heart. The new setup involves dividing Disney’s TV business into two divisions-one focusing on content creation (“primarily”

; streaming content) and the other focusing on distribution (full monitoring of profit and loss). At least for people outside the company, how it works is unclear, but the reason is obvious: the traditional TV business is splashing water. Consumers just realizing the cost are canceling a large number of cable and satellite services, which puts pressure on advertising sales and subscriber fees. Many people have chosen the on-demand streaming option. For example, Disney+ has made Disney Channel irrelevant to many families.

Mr. Chapek insists that his restructuring is progressing well. He said: “Although everyone’s role is disturbed, we have 100% support.”

The Disney Media Network (including the ESPN and ABC divisions) benefited from the epidemic, and at least from a financial point of view, the epidemic has been helped because the production shutdown and the transfer of college football games to later quarters are alleviated The cost of ABC. Advertising sales benefited from an extra week in the quarter, which is a quirk of Disney’s financial reporting structure. The operating profit of this division was approximately US$1.86 billion, an increase of 5% year-on-year.

Disney’s theme parks and consumer goods divisions were another brutal period, with operating profits plummeting $2.5 billion and a loss of $1.1 billion. Walt Disneyland in Florida reopened in July with limited capacity, but due to the coronavirus, other major hotels including Disney Cruise Line are still closed.

Mr. Chapek said that Disneyland, which has reopened at 25% capacity, recently increased the limit to 35%, “while still complying with the CDC’s six-foot social distancing guidelines.” Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Christina McCarthy was on the conference call Said that bookings for Thanksgiving week are “almost full.”

For a long time, Disney’s theme parks have been regarded as the leader of the entire economy. It is not clear whether the people who are now related to wage cuts and unemployment will be able to afford Disney’s vacation when the doors are completely reopened. It took two years for the Disney Parks department to fully recover from the last recession.