Disney+Hotstar had a surreal 2022. Their revenues doubled as IPL and T20 World Cup were live-streamed on the platform. In 2023, the OTT platform went to have the same level of growth as it won’t have the IPL Streaming rights anymore. As per reports, the net loss has been reduced by 43% in 2022.
Their ad revenue stands at rs. 1684.31 crore which took a jump from Rs 849.74 crore in FY21. As their net loss is reduced by 43%, it stands at Rs. 343.16 crores. In the last fiscal, their net loss was Rs. 600.77 crore. The OTT platform’s subscription revenue increased by 65% and it stands at Rs.1373.61 crore. On the other hand, the company’s operating revenue increased 93% to Rs 3220.41 crore from rs1670.63 crore in the last FY.
Walt Disney has lowered the subscriber target for this OTT platform as they lost the LIVE Streaming Rights for IPL to Viacom 18. Disney’s CFO Christine McCarthy revealed that they will be separating their guidance into two categories, od Core Disney and Disney+Hotstar.
They expect Disney+ Hotstar to get to 80 million subscribers by the end of 2024.
“As you may know we recently made the disciplined decision to not proceed with the Indian Premier League digital rights and we’ll evaluate these rights with that same discipline,” she said.
Viacom18 bought the rights of IPL for Rs 23,758 crore for the 2023-2027 time period. Analysts say that the OTT platform will be facing a severe lost that will impact its user base since it could not get the rights. The Indian Premier League was important as it boosted the subscriber growth for them and in the future, their growth could have been doubled.
In the past few years, they became one of the top OTT platforms in India. They mainly stream sports and catchy content along with some original shows and movies after they got rebranded as Disney+Hotstar.
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