With No IPL Streaming Rights, Disney+Hotstar Lost 4.6 Mn Paid Subscribers In April Qtr

Looks like all’s not well at Disney+Hotstar. After losing the IPL rights at the hands of Jio Cinema, The Walt Disney in its Q2 FY23 Earning Report stated that Disney+Hotstar’s subscribers dropped by 4.6 Mn against the previous quarter i.e., between October 2022 and January 2023. 

The company stated that in the last quarter, Disney+Hotstar’s paid user base was 57.5 Mn, which dropped by 8% to 52.9 Mn in the April ending quarter. 

This was also the second straight quarter of the streaming service losing its paid subscribers.

Further, the OTT platform lost 3.8 Mn subscribers in the October-December quarter of 2022, months after it lost the digital media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In India, IPL is one of the top-picks to watch content online. 

The decline in the Indian user-base can be primarily attributed to Hotstar+Disney losing the IPL streaming rights, an event that ended its five-year monopoly of running the show. Now, Viacom18 bagged the IPL digital rights for 2023-27 period.

Besides, the OTT giants didn’t renew the Formula One rights as well, and also stopped streaming HBO’s content following a non-renewal of the deal from March 31, 2023. 

With India being the major user base, Disney+Hotstar is also available in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. 

Globally, Disney+ Hotstar accounted for about 33.5% of the total paid subscriber base of Disney+ which stood at 157.8 Mn in April ending quarter. This a 2% drop from 161.8 Mn subscribers in the previous quarter.

Disney+Hotstar’s average monthly revenue per paid subscriber dropped by 20% to $0.59 in April quarter from $0.74 in the previous quarter due to lower per-subscriber advertising revenue. Disney in its Q2 FY23 earning report highlighted lower per-subscriber advertising due to the fewer airing of IPL matches. 

On a global scale, average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased by 20% to $7.14 in the April ending quarter from $5.95 in previous quarter. 

Disney+Hotstar’s decline in its subscriber base coincides with Reliance’s rise to dominance in the OTT space. While Jio Cinema is already streaming the Tata IPL 2023, clocking an average viewership of 80 Lakh per match, the streaming giant late last month partnered with Warner Bros for exclusive digital content streaming rights of HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros starting next month in India. 

The adage, “One man’s loss is another man’s gain” fits well in this scenario. Further, Jio Studios has revealed that it is working with 100 new films and TV shows including mega stars such as Shah Rukh Khan along with a range of web originals and mini-series that will be available on Jio Cinemas.