Disney+Hotstar Loses 4.6 Million Paid Subscribers in April Quarter Without IPL Streaming Rights
- ByStartupStory | May 12, 2023
Disney+Hotstar faces a decline in subscribers after losing the IPL rights to Jio Cinema. In its Q2 FY23 Earning Report, The Walt Disney announced a 4.6 Mn drop in Disney+Hotstar’s subscriber count from the previous quarter (October 2022-January 2023). The report revealed a decline in the paid user base from 57.5 Mn in the last quarter to 52.9 Mn in the quarter ending in April, representing an 8% drop.
Disney+Hotstar’s subscriber count has declined for the second consecutive quarter, following a loss of 3.8 Mn subscribers in the October-December 2022 quarter after losing the digital media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL). In India, the IPL is a popular choice for online content consumption, and its loss has impacted the OTT platform’s performance.
The Indian user base experienced a decline due to the loss of IPL streaming rights by Hotstar+Disney, which had a monopoly on the event for five years. Viacom18 has now acquired the digital rights for IPL for the 2023-27 period.
In addition, the OTT giants have chosen not to renew their rights for Formula One and have ceased streaming HBO content since the deal expired on March 31, 2023. Disney+Hotstar, which has a significant user base in India, is also accessible in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
In the quarter ending in April, Disney+ Hotstar contributed approximately 33.5% to Disney+’s total paid subscriber base, which stood at 157.8 million. However, this was a 2% decline from the previous quarter’s 161.8 million subscribers. Additionally, Disney+Hotstar’s average monthly revenue per paid subscriber decreased by 20% to $0.59 in the April quarter, compared to the previous quarter’s $0.74, due to a reduction in per-subscriber advertising revenue. This decline was highlighted in Disney’s Q2 FY23 earnings report, attributed to fewer IPL matches being aired.
Globally, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased by 20% to $7.14 in the April quarter, up from $5.95 in the previous quarter. However, Disney+Hotstar experienced a decline in its subscriber base, coinciding with Reliance’s surge to dominance in the OTT space. Jio Cinema, which is already streaming the Tata IPL 2023, has an average viewership of 80 lakh per match. Last month, the streaming giant partnered with Warner Bros to obtain exclusive digital content streaming rights for HBO, Max Original, and Warner Bros starting next month in India.
The saying, “One man’s loss is another man’s gain” is fitting for this situation. Additionally, Jio Studios has announced that it is collaborating on 100 new films and TV shows, featuring popular actors like Shah Rukh Khan, as well as a variety of web originals and mini-series that will be accessible on Jio Cinemas.
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