Disney Uses Parks Popularity to Push Back Against Streaming Losses

To drive subscriber growth and better hold its own against streaming competitors, Disney is turning to consumers’ affinity for other parts of its portfolio to drive Disney+ adoption.

The media giant shared in a post to its Disney Parks Blog that starting Wednesday (Jan. 3), Disney+ subscribers receive a free dining plan with a four-night Walt Disney Travel Company package, which includes a resort stay and theme park admission. The move enables the company to use park visitors’ enthusiasm for the in-person offering to drive digital engagement.

“We know how much families love Disney dining, and this offer gives them another great option to save on their vacation,” Victoria Zicari, communications specialist at Walt Disney World Public Affairs, said in the blog post.

The deal is part of Disney’s push to use consumers’ existing affinity for other parts of its portfolio to boost adoption of the streaming service. Other similar deals offer Disney+ subscribers access to digital Marvel comics, discounted memberships to the company’s official fan club, discounts on select merchandise and others. Disney’s extensive, diversified business offers it an advantage over streaming giants such as Netflix and Hulu, which do not have such levers to pull.

The latest offer comes as Disney+’s domestic subscriber growth has largely flatlined in the past year, with 46.5 million paid subscribers in the U.S. and Canada at the end of September, barely up from 46.4 million the year before. Plus, there have been dips throughout the year. At the close of July, the count was down to 46 million, with worldwide subscribers falling by more than 7%. Additionally, a report earlier this year showed the streaming service’s price increases had a negative impact on subscriber counts.

Streaming subscriptions are facing churn overall. Roughly 1 in 4 U.S. subscribers to major services like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ has canceled at least three subscriptions in the last two years, and streaming service cancellations increased to 6.3% in November, up from 5.1% the year before.

When consumers’ budgets come under pressure, streaming services are the first monthly bill to get canceled, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence study “The One-Stop Bill Pay Playbook: Drivers of Consumers’ Bill Payment Priorities.” The report, which drew from a survey of more than 2,100 U.S. consumers, found that 55% of respondents said they would lose their streaming subscriptions if they needed to cut back, a greater share than said the same of any other service.

Plus, data from 2022 highlighted in PYMNTS’ Subscription Commerce Tracker® found that 55% of consumers think there are too many streaming options, and 53% find it too expensive to pay for all the content.

Amid subscriber churn, streaming services have been looking for new revenue streams. Some are setting their sights on monetization opportunities such as in-app shopping features, and across the industry, key players are increasingly integrating advertisements, with Amazon Prime being the next to do so.