The Walt Disney Company reported their Fourth Quarter Earnings for 2021 this week. It’s quite an interesting quarter for the company since it reflects a shift in consumers returning to “normal” business behavior.
The company’s parks, experiences and products segment produced operating income for the first time since the pandemic began in the fiscal third quarter, and this segment remained profitable in the third quarter. All of Disney’s global theme parks were open for at least a portion of the fiscal fourth quarter, which is tremendous progress since March 2020.
However, the Disney+ streaming service did fall short of financial forecasts.
Related: Disney Theme Parks to cut portion sizes to save money
Disney+ added just over two million subscribers in the fourth quarter ending Oct. 2, which brings its total to 118.1 million. Analysts were expecting this quarter’s total to come to 125.3 million. During the previous quarter, Disney+ had added more than 12 million new subscribers.
“Although film and television production generally resumed beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we continue to see disruption of production activities depending on local circumstances,” Disney said in its earnings release. “Fewer theatrical releases and production delays have limited the availability of film content to be sold in distribution windows subsequent to the theatrical release.”
Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek says the company is actively managing its direct-to-consumer business “for the long term, not quarter to quarter.” According to Chapek, the service is still on track to reach previous guidance of between 230 million and 260 million paid Disney+ subscribers globally by the end of fiscal 2024.
Even though Disney’s streaming service took a dip in growth, Disney’s theme parks posted a surge in year-over-year revenue as attractions reopened.
Theme park revenue was up 99%. Growth in the company’s media division came in part because of advertising revenue attached to the return of live sports. Plus, box office grosses in the quarter came from four new Disney movies.
Related: Disney looking for audience members for Holiday Special filming
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Source: The Walt Disney Company
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