Disney's streaming business valued at over US$100 billion: Barclays

Disney’s streaming business has already been valued at over US$100 billion by Barclays. Its streaming business is made up of three pillars – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

Sports streamer ESPN+ was launched in April 2018 while Disney took full control of Hulu in May 2019. It launched its flagship service Disney+ in November 2019.

Despite being available in five countries currently, Disney+ saw “extraordinary consumer demand” and more than 10 million sign ups within its first 24 hours, according to Disney.

These initial successes have now been reflected by a new Barclays estimate of Disney’s total enterprise value, which the bank estimated at around US$320bn, with its core business (such as parks, movie studios and TV networks) making up the majority (US$213 billion). This means that Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming businesses are worth around $107 billion.

An investor’s note from Barclays said: “Just six weeks into launch, Disney is already pricing in a streaming business worth US$108 billion, 69% of Netflix’s enterprise value which has taken 13 years to get here.”

According to Barclays, Disney may look to additional distribution deals in order to keep the momentum going. The company has already signed distribution deals with Verizon in the US and Canal+ in France, and a potential deal with Sky – with which it has had a fruitful decades-long relationship – would not be impossible to secure.