The Walt Disney Company announced better-than-expected results last week when it unveiled its earnings for the second quarter of 2022 (the company’s third fiscal quarter.)
The data point that caught the most attention? That total Disney DTC subscriptions — including Disney+, but also Hulu and ESPN+ — reached 221.1 million.
Many headlines subsequently focused on Disney’s overall streaming subscription tally now being higher than Netflix’s. This focus is understandable — who doesn’t love a rivalry? But it’s also notable because their numbers are trending in the opposite direction.
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As you may remember, Netflix lost almost 970,000 net subscribers during the three-month period ended June 30. That was less than anticipated in April, when it predicted a net loss of 2 million subscribers. And its 220.67 million subscriber count isn’t very far from Disney’s. But the contrast between their fates is still headline-grabbing, for good reason.
