Disney’s latest quarterly results drew a sharp contrast in its entertainment segment. Linear TV remained soft, while Direct‑to‑Consumer (DTC), or its streaming services, over‑delivered. DTC operating income rose 39% to $352 million, and total Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions climbed to 195.7 million, up 12.4 million over the prior quarter.
Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics shows how original content on both Disney+ and Hulu has been a major driver of subscriber signups in the past year. Disney+ originals accounted for the largest share of subscriber acquisitions by series in the past year (25.5%). Hulu ranked second, its originals accounting for nearly 12% of new subscribers that signed up to either Hulu or Disney+ in the past year.
The next five biggest sources of subscriber sign-ups from shows were from linear channels. We calculate that collectively, the shows from these five channels were responsible for nearly 40% of global subscriber signups to Disney+ or Hulu over the past year from series. Even if linear channels underperformed in Disney’s earnings this quarter, linear IP is still doing major work in streaming.
In the earnings call, Disney highlighted FX’s “Alien: Earth” as the biggest FX series premiere ever on Disney+ and Hulu, a perfect example of a linear brand feeding streaming growth.“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is another linear value driver for streaming.
We’ve previously shown that Kimmel ranks among the top late‑night revenue drivers in streaming since 2021. However, his recent suspension created near‑term churn risk. Some of this fallout is likely not fully captured in the quarter’s reported results given the timing.
Price increases add another moving piece. Disney raised standalone prices again in October for new subscribers, with existing subscribers seeing changes on subsequent billing cycles. As those hikes roll through, we expect any churn impacts to surface. When we looked across platforms after those increases, standalone Disney+ and Hulu looked expensive relative to demand, suggesting elevated churn risk but meaningful upsell potential into the U.S. Disney+‑Hulu bundle.
In the company’s forward-looking guidance, it expects a double-digit operating margin for its DTC streaming business next year and price hikes are part of this.
Strategically, these results make the case for leaning into the bundle and merchandising the linear brands on streaming even more aggressively. Titles from these linear brands reliably pull new subscribers into the ecosystem. As Disney moves away from reporting subscriber numbers next quarter, having a view on what drives subscriber behavior will be even more critical.
Streaming was the quarter’s relative winner and linear‑born series are a big reason why. Disney+ and Hulu originals led acquisition, but linear brands supplied over two‑fifths of global signups attributed to series. With price hikes introducing short‑term churn risk and bundle‑driven upsell opportunity, the story investors should watch next isn’t the raw subscriber tally which will be going away, it’s which shows move paid net adds and revenue, and how quickly those gains compound.
