Disney+ Hotstar faces quarterly drop as it loses 12.5 million subscribers

The third quarter of Disney+ Hotstar, which concluded on July 1, 2023, saw a huge loss of 12.5 million paid customers, the largest decline in subscribers since the firm began revealing the number of paid users to the service in April 2020.

The number of paid subscribers to Disney+ Hotstar fell to 40.4 million during the quarter, a 24 percent decrease from the 52.9 million paid subscribers in the previous quarter. The Disney-owned video streaming service has seen a fall in subscribers for three straight quarters. 

At its peak, Disney+ Hotstar had reported 61.3 million subscribers in the quarter ending October 2022 (Q4FY22). 

Disney had previously warned of a subscriber drop at the video streaming service after losing the streaming rights to the crucial IPL cricket tournament last year to Viacom18. 

The tournament was instrumental in driving subscriber growth for Disney+ Hotstar. Viacom18 bagged the streaming rights for the IPL tournament for the 2023-2027 period and recently streamed the entire tournament for free on JioCinema. 

Subsequently, Viacom18 also struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to make JioCinema the new home for HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros. content in the country, the rights for which were earlier with Disney. 

Disney+ also lost 300,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada while it gained 800,000 subscribers in its international markets, excluding Disney+ Hotstar.