Disney said Wednesday it has an estimated 157 million global monthly active users watching ad-supported content across its streaming platforms \u2014 Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.<\/p>\n
That number includes 112 million users domestically and is an average per month over the last six months.<\/p>\n
While traditional TV outlets have a standard way of measuring ratings and viewership, there is still no industry standard methodology for measuring global streaming advertising audience size.<\/p>\n
The company said that its Disney Advertising unit has \u201cset out to define a globally consistent approach and methodology to estimate ad-supported audience numbers.\u201d It\u2019s providing the update and further insight into its ad-supported streaming business during the annual CES tech conference in Las Vegas, a go-to event for the advertising and media industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisney sits at the intersection of world class sports and entertainment content, with the most high-value audiences in ad-supported global streaming at scale,\u201d said Rita Ferro, Disney\u2019s president of global advertising, in a news release. \u201cWe wanted to be the first to offer our industry greater transparency into the methodology used to estimate our engaged global ad-supported monthly active users.\u201d<\/p>\n
In explaining the methodology, the company said the metric is derived from active accounts across Disney\u2019s three streaming services that have viewed ad-supported shows and movies continuously for more than 10 seconds. \u201cEach active account is then multiplied by the number of estimated users per account … to estimate the total number of users,\u201d it said. The estimated active users are added across the apps without de-duplication, meaning users who subscribe to more than one of the platforms could be counted more than once.<\/p>\n
Media companies have become particularly focused on generating profits from their streaming businesses, and advertising has become a key way to do that. While many platforms were initially subscription services without commercials, streaming platforms in recent years have introduced cheaper, ad-supported tiers for consumers.<\/p>\n
Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that the company is trying to steer its customers toward its ad-supported tiers. The company has raised prices on commercial-free options since launching Disney+ with ads in late 2022.<\/p>\n
Disney\u2019s Hulu was one of the first streaming platforms to offer an ad-supported option. More recently, Disney+ introduced an ad-supported tier.<\/p>\n
In November, Disney said it had 122.7 million Disney+ Core subscribers, which excludes Disney+ Hotstar in India and other countries in the region. Hulu had 52 million subscribers, while ESPN+ had 25.6 million paid subscribers.<\/p>\n
The company historically hasn\u2019t reported exactly how many subscribers on each platform pay for the ad-supported option, but executives in the earnings call in November said more than half of new U.S. Disney+ subscribers were choosing the cheaper, ad-supported tier, adding this \u201cbodes well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disney noted during the call that average revenue per user for domestic Disney+ customers dropped from $7.74 to $7.70, due to a higher mix of customers on its cheaper, ad-supported tier and wholesale offerings. <\/p>\n
Executives also said in November that they were confident streaming would \u201cbe a significant growth area\u201d for the company.<\/p>\n
At the time, the company reported that its combined streaming business, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, posted operating income of $321 million for the September period compared with a loss of $387 million during the same period the year prior.<\/p>\n
Disney will report its fiscal first-quarter earnings on Feb. 5 before the bell.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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