Disney+ Hotstar loses 2.8 mn subscribers in India, CEO says will stay in country

NEW DELHI: Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, has said that they would like to stay in the Indian market, as Disney+ Hotstar lost 2.8 million subscribers in the quarter ending September 30.

Disney+ Hotstar had 37.6 million subscribers in Q3, down from 40.4 million subscribers in Q2 in India this year.

In interacting with analysts after the quarterly results late on Wednesday, Iger said that In India, “our linear business actually does quite well”.

“Yes, it's making money. But we know that other parts of that business are challenged for us and for others. And we are looking, I'll call it expensively,” he told analysts.

“I know I've said this before, it always gets me in trouble. But we're considering our options there. We have an opportunity to strengthen our hand. It is now maybe the most populous country in the world or maybe just still second to China and about to pass them,” Iger told analysts.

He said that the company would like to stay in the Indian market.

“But we're also looking to see whether we can strengthen our hand and obviously, improve the bottom line. In terms of advertising, we are actually finding that linear is a little bit stronger than we had expected it would be. It's not back as much as we would like,” he added.

“It's still a challenge, but it's not as bad as it had been. So, we've seen some slight improvement. Actually, the tech sector is still somewhat weak. But in general, overall, advertising has improved,” the CEO noted.

With streaming of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, Disney+ Hotstar is set to have more subscribers in the ongoing festive quarter in India.

Globally, revenues for the quarter and year grew 5 per cent and 7 per cent for The Walt Disney Company. Disney+ added nearly 7 million core subscribers in the quarter.