Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company on Thursday reported its earnings for the quarter ended 1 January 2022. The media company's direct-to-home revenues increased by 34 per cent to reach $4.6 billion. This increase was driven by higher subscriber growth and increases in retail pricing.

Disney+ added 11.7 million subscribers during the quarter taking its total base from 118.1 million to 129.8 million. The company also revealed that it had 45.9 million Disney+ Hotstar subscribers. In comparison, Disney+ domestic subscribers (US+Canada) stood at 42.9 million and international subscribers excluding Hotstar stood at 41.1 million at the end of the quarter.

The average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) for Disney+ stood at $4.41. The ARPUs for Disney+ Hotstar increased from $0.98 to $1.03 due to launches in new territories with higher average prices, partially offset by a higher mix of wholesale subscribers.

However, the DTC business also saw a higher operating loss at $0.6 billion (27 per cent increase) driven by higher programming, production, marketing and technology costs at Disney+.

Overall, Disney posted revenues of $21.8 billion registering a growth of 34 per cent year-on-year. The company’s media and entertainment distribution business brought in about $14.58 billion in revenues registering a growth of 15 per cent YoY. Its operating income was $808 million a decrease of 40 per cent over the same quarter in the previous year.

Disney’s linear network business posted revenues of $7.7 billion and content sales and licensing revenues stood at $2.4 billion. Disney’s linear network business remained essentially flat over last year.

International channel revenues for the quarter decreased by four per cent to $1.6 billion reflecting the closure of channels across its markets. The growth in channels that continued to operate in the current and prior year quarters was due to an increase in advertising revenue driven by higher rates.

“We’ve had a very strong start to the fiscal year, with the launch of a new franchise with Encanto, and a significant increase in total subscriptions across our streaming portfolio to 196.4 million, including 11.8 million Disney+ subscribers added in the first quarter,” The Walt Disney Company chief executive officer Bob Chapek. “This marks the final year of The Walt Disney Company’s first century, and performance like this coupled with our unmatched collection of assets and platforms, creative capabilities, and unique place in the culture give me great confidence we will continue to define entertainment for the next 100 years.”