Disney+ loses 1.3 million subscribers after they raise their prices and have taken a $300 million streaming loss

Streaming services have spent the last year making unpopular decisions, including cracking down on passwords and introducing ad-supported tiers to their programming. Hulu recently sent out notices to all their subscribers that they would start implementing account restrictions that prevent anyone with a password from signing into an account if they do not reside in the same household. The decision originated with Netflix and, although the move seemed controversial with consumers, the streaming giant saw a massive uptick in subscriptions.

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney+ have taken to raising their prices along with offering additional tiers that limit picture quality and feature advertisements. Unfortunately for Disney+, this would result in a major subscription hit. According to Variety, “Disney+ Core subscribers (which include U.S. and Canada customers, as well as international users, excluding the India-based Disney+ Hotstar) dropped to 111.3 million from the 112.6 million reported in the previous quarter, according to Disney’s quarterly earnings results released Wednesday.”

However, the Magic Kingdom is also projecting a spike in subscribers for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Disney is predicting that they’ll be adding somewhere between 5.5 million and 6 million subscribers to the Disney+ Core by the end of the current quarter, which is spanning from January to March. Meanwhile, the India-based Disney+ Hotstar has added around 700,000 subscribers during the October-December quarter, this brings their total to 38.3 million from the 37.6 million that had been subscribed at the end of September.

The Disney-owned Hulu streaming service is also being paired up with Disney+ for an all-in-one bundle so audiences can access content featured on both platforms, which can span from family-friendly to more mature content. Bob Iger is currently making many changes to the House of Mouse in order to improve performances. One of his decisions was to crackdown on password sharing on both Disney+ and now Hulu services. The returning CEO planned out the move in August. Last year, Iger would outline at a company earning’s call, “We’re actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. We will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”