Many Disney Streaming Figures Headed In Wrong Direction

As its streaming platforms keep growing, Walt Disney's cable networks head in the other direction -- losing around 10% year-over-year, according to MediaPost citing Disney's annual report.

Disney’s annual report says its distributed U.S. networks have each dipped some 8 million to 9 million subscribers YoY.

Disney Channel is now in 76 million homes (vs. 85 million in 2020), while ESPN is in 76 million (84 million); FX, 77 million (86 million); National Geographic, 76 million (85 million); and Freeform is in 76 million homes (85 million) — as of September 2021, according to Nielsen data. 

The data — for 2021 vs. 2020 — comes from pay TV providers and “the majority of digital OTT subscriber counts.” The report did not elaborate.

Disney owns or co-owns (with majority stakes) 15 U.S. cable networks. In addition to the above brands, other networks in the major Disney cable TV network stable also lost about the same number of subscribers.

ESPN2 has 76 million subscribers (84 million in 2020), followed by FXX with 72 million (83 million); Disney Junior, 57 million (66 million); Disney XD, 56 million (66 million); ESPNU, 51 million (62 million); FXM, 47 million (57 million); and National Geographic Wild, 51 million (60 million).

Data for ESPNEWS, with 59 million (62 million); SEC network, 59 million (85 million) and ACC network (currently 42 million) came from SNL Kagan as of December 2020.

At the same time, Disney notes its premium streamers -- which house much of its cable TV network content -- have grown in subscribers over the past year. Disney+ is up 60% to 118 million, while Hulu is 20% more to 44 million and ESPN+ has added 66% to 17.1 million.