Earlier this week, Disney revealed some of the financial damage the pandemic has done to the company during its quarterly earnings call. Q3 saw Disney lose more than $4.7 billion. The bulk of that loss came from its theme park and cruise ship operations, most of which spent the bulk of the quarter out of operation.
On the media side, ESPN and ABC faired considerably better. Disney’s media operations saw profits fall by just 2%. It’s a good sign considering the increase in operating income.
The best news for ESPN comes in the digital space. ESPN+ has continued to see its subscription base grow. The digital platform now reaches over 8.5 million subscribers. Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced that ESPN+ has experienced 1000% year-over-year growth.
While Americans are searching for all sorts of new forms of entertainment while being stuck at home, Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing points out that growth since the pandemic has not exactly been overwhelming. ESPN+ had over 7.6 million subscribers in December.
Disney+ remains the jewel in the company’s streaming crown. Chapek noted on the call that service has “far exceed[ed] our initial projections”. Disney+ now boasts more than 57 million subscribers. It was up just over 28 million in December.
It is notable that through much of the Covid-19 Pandemic, ESPN+ was able to gain subscribers even without an abundance of live sports. The service has certainly been buoyed by Dana White’s determination to stage as many UFC cards as possible. The company’s pay-per-view events are available exclusively through ESPN+.
