👉 Background: Back in late 2019, Disney launched its streaming platform Disney+ launched. Since then, it has grown to more than 150 million subscribers.

👉 What happened: Now, Disney announced its quarterly results where its streaming service lost 4 million subscribers in the first three months of 2023, or 2% of total subscribers. But don't blame Elsa... or Marvel... or even Star Wars. The major drop was thanks to more than 4.5 million Hotstar subscribers.

👉 What else: Disney+ Hotstar is the version of the service offered in India and parts of South East Asia. And after losing this season's IPL, or Indian Premier League... millions of subscribers jumped ship. Then, Hotstar also lost its licensing agreement with HBO. Yikes!

What's the key learning?

💡Customers are loyal to programs, not streaming services or TV stations. And with the cost of living rising, subscribers ain't sticking around if they can't get what they want.

💡Streaming services with sport offerings see an enormous uptick in subscribers in the lead up to the sporting season:

• Disney+’s Hotstar saw a rise of six million subscribers between January and March 2021 before the April IPL series.
• It also saw a 4.2 million in the same quarter in 2022 in the lead up to the IPL again.

💡It ain't just sport causing subscribers to cancel subscriptions. A recent survey from Kantar found that one in four Australian streaming households planned to cancel a service in the next three months.

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