The Walt Disney Company decides to raise the price of its flagship Disney streaming service by 38 percent, with an aim to generate more revenue for its money-losing online businesses.
The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney has seen its total number of subscribers surpassing its rival Netflix for the first time.
The US-based multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate added 14.4 million Disney subscribers during its fiscal third quarter, which corresponds to the April-June period of this year.
"We now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings," the company said in its financial results statement released late on Wednesday.
In contrast, Netflix’s financial results statement released on July 19 showed that it had 220.6 million global streaming paid memberships in the April-June period of this year.
Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers during the first three months of the year, marking its first loss in users since October 2011.
It also lost one million subscribers in the second quarter of this year, which was lower than its forecast of two million, according to its financial statement.
This marks the first time any streaming service surpassed Netflix in total subscribers, and it makes Disney the world's largest streaming service provider in the industry in terms of the number of subscribers.
Subscription fee up by 38 percent
The Walt Disney Company has also announced that it is raising the price of its flagship Disney streaming service by 38 percent, with an aim to generate more revenue for its money-losing online businesses.
An ad-free subscription to Disney will cost $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year in the US starting in December, up from its current cost of $7.99 a month.
The Disney-owned Hulu will also raise prices for all of its subscribers.
The ad-supported tier, which currently costs $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year, will go up to $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year.
The firm also said it is planning to reveal an ad-supported version of the flagship streaming service.
Bob Chapek, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, said: "We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services."
Source: agencies
