ESPN Subscriber Numbers Decline Again
November 23 2016 - 8:40PM
Dow Jones News
ESPN lost about two million subscribers last year, marking the
lowest number of subscribers for the sports powerhouse since 2005,
according to a Walt Disney Co. filing issued Wednesday.
ESPN had 90 million subscribers at the end of the 2016 fiscal
year ended Oct. 1, according to Disney's annual report. It was
another year of gradual decline for the network, which had about
100 million subscribers in 2010.
Investor concerns about customers "cord-cutting" their
cable-television subscriptions and leading to a fall in ESPN
sign-ups has weighed on quarterly earnings at the world's largest
media company since August 2015, when Disney Chief Executive Robert
Iger said "some subscriber losses" were hitting the network.
The declines have been especially pronounced in the last three
years. In 2013, ESPN had 99 million subscribers. It lost four
million in the year after that, and was down to 92 million in
2015.
Earlier this month, declining income at ESPN weighed on Disney's
fourth-quarter results. Operating income for Disney's cable
networks segment, which includes ESPN, fell 13% to $1.45 billion. A
13% fall in ESPN ad revenue contributed to the slump.
Declining subscriber numbers have overshadowed other company
landmarks in the past year, such as the successful launch of new
"Star Wars" films and the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort.
Since then, Disney made a $1 billion deal to acquire a 33% stake
in BAMTech, a streaming-video unit created by Major League
Baseball. Disney plans to use BAMTech to help launch a
digital-sports service that would operate separate from traditional
cable bundles and offer more direct-to-consumer offerings.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2016 21:25 ET (02:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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