Mickey Mouse stars in the “Mickey and Friends Cavalcade” on July 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort via Getty Images
It’s not all magic in the kingdom of Disney.
Overall revenue grew 4% but, like most media corporations, The Walt Disney Company is navigating the ebbs and flows of consumer behavior, cord-cutting and a sluggish ad market, among other issues.
In today’s quarterly earnings report, CEO Bob Iger said he was still optimistic about the company’s future. He identified three areas that he believes will drive future growth: movies, parks/cruises, streaming/direct-to-consumer.
Here are six takeaways from today’s earnings call.
1. Movies: Disney did not have the hits this summer. Iger said the performance of its recent releases were “disappointing and we don’t take that lightly.” Still, he points to Disney’s “tremendous run over the last decade” with such blockbusters as Avatar and Frozen. Disney has always known how to exploit its robust intellectual property with TV spinoffs, character-driven merchandise, movie-themed rides in its parks and the like.
2. Parks/resorts/cruises: Overall revenues for Disney’s theme parks and cruises increased 13% to $8.3 billion. Attendance at Walt Disney World in Florida was down but that was offset by increased attendance at its theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Iger said “booked occupancy” for upcoming Disney cruises is at 98%.
3. Streaming: revenues for Disney’s direct-to-consumer offerings like Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, increased 9% to $5.5 billion. Driving revenue wasn’t necessarily subscription growth but rather increased prices. Disney has increased the price of a Disney+ subscription before and it plans to do…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply