Disney+ follows Netflix and will no longer state regular subscription numbers in the future

In the future, Disney will no longer give a subscription to their own streaming services in its quarterly annual reports. So far, the entertainment group has reported the number of members at least once a quarter. But in the meantime, subscription numbers and the sales achieved per user are becoming less relevant for the financial result, Disney now explains. The company thus follows the example of Netflix.

Because already in April 2024, Netflix had announced that they were no longer named. Since the beginning of this year, the streaming service no longer reports the number of their own subscribers regularly, but only when they reach special milestones. This was justified by new sources of income such as advertising in certain subscription tariffs. Due to the different tariffs and different, regionally different prices, subscription numbers are no longer as meaningful as before.

From October no subscription numbers for Disney+ and Hulu

Streaming competitor Disney is now apparently similar. When presenting the results of the last quarter, as Disney benefited from streaming and amusement parks, Disney boss Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston described the subscription to the streaming services and the average proceeds per customer (ARPU, AVERAGE REVENUE per user) as less important and relevant for the financial result. Therefore, these figures will no longer appear in the quarterly reports from the first business quarter 2026, which begins in October.

“Since we reported the number of paying subscribers and the Arpu, our DTC strategy and the business environment have developed,” says one joint explanation to the business figures (note: DTC = Direct to Customer). “In view of this development, we plan to make changes to our financial information for the areas of entertainment and sport. One of the planned changes includes the fact that quarterly updates to the number of paying subscribers and the arpu have become less meaningful for the assessment of business development.”

Disney’s streaming subscriptions continue to grow

“Therefore, we will no longer publish these key figures from the first quarter of the 2026 financial year for Disney+ and Hulu and from the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year for ESPN+,” it says. “We will no longer publish subscribers and no more ARPU, but we will provide information on profitability in the direct-to-consumer entertainment area.”

The Last annual report So the penultimate version with the subscription numbers from Disney’s streaming services, and these have recently increased. At the end of June, Disney+ 128 million subscribers counted, which is 1.8 million more than in the previous quarter. Together with Hulu, Disney recorded 183 million subscriptions. This corresponds to an increase of 2.6 million in the same period, because Hulu was also able to increase its number of customers somewhat in spring.