IPL propels Disney+ Hotstar's subscriber base to 50.1 million in Q2 FY22
This is a 9.15% growth over the Q1 FY22 when the Indian OTT giant had 45.9 million net paid subscribers
Disney+ Hotstar has added 4.2 million new paid subscribers to hit the 50 million subscriber milestone in Q2 FY22. As per the quarterly results announced by Walt Disney, Disney+ Hotstar ended the quarter with 50.1 million net paid subscribers.
This is a 9.15% growth over the Q1 FY22 when the Indian OTT giant had 45.9 million net paid subscribers. On a YoY basis, the paid subscriber base has grown by 42% from 35.2 million in April 2021. Disney+ Hotstar's average revenue per user (APRU) grew 55% to $0.76 from $0.49 in Q2 FY21.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney Senior EVP and CFO Christine McCarthy told analysts that Disney+ added 8 million net paid subscribers with over half of it coming from Disney+ Hotstar. Disney+ ended the quarter with 138 million paid subscribers globally.
"We ended the quarter with nearly 138 million global paid Disney+ subscribers, reflecting close to 8 million net additions from Q1. A little over half of those net adds were from Disney+ Hotstar, which benefited from the start of the new IPL season toward the end of the second quarter. Internationally, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, we added over 2 million paid subscribers versus the first quarter with Latin America being the strongest contributor, driven by the growth of the Combo+ offering," McCarthy stated.
She also exuded confidence that Disney+ will have higher net adds in the second half of the fiscal due to the aggressive expansion plans for the service. "At Disney+, while we still expect higher net adds in the second half of the year versus the first half, it's worth mentioning that we did have a stronger-than-expected first half of the year. Additionally, note that some of the Eastern European markets we're launching in toward the end of Q3, including Poland, are in regions being impacted by geopolitical factors," McCarthy said.
She reiterated that Disney will spend $33 billion on content in Fiscal 2022. "As it relates to content spend, we previously stated that we expect fiscal year 2022 cash content spend to total as much as $33 billion. We've adjusted that amount to as much as $32 billion to reflect a slightly slower cadence of spending than anticipated during the first half of the year."
Globally, Disney+ has 500 shows in various stages of development including 100 in India. "We have about 500 shows in the pipeline for local content outside of the US or English speaking. When you look at that 500, I'll give you some broad breakdowns. In the Asia Pacific region, including Southeast Asia, of that 500, 140 are in that region. In EMEA, it's 150. In India, it's 100. And in Latin America, it's 200," she stated.
The Disney CFO asserted that the DTC business is on track to meet subscriber and profitability targets. "We are confident in our long-term subscriber guidance of 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subs by fiscal 2024. We also still expect that Disney+ will achieve profitability in fiscal 2024."
