, means the company may have trouble reaching its goal of as many of as 260 million global Disney+ subscribers by 2024, according to Vivek Couto, executive director of the research firm.
Few consumer products have been as successful as Disney+. The service, which offers unlimited Disney movies and TV shows, garnered 10 million subscribers on its first day in November 2019 and boasted nearly 138 million at last count. Chief executive officer Bob Chapek made a bold forecast in late 2020, predicting the company would triple its subscriber count in four years.
For months investors have been debating whether the company will have to lower its forecast. The drumbeat began after a weak quarter last year and continued after Netflix Inc. reported its first subscriber loss in a decade in April. Disney shares are down 39% this year.Disney lost the cricket bidding war to a group that includes Paramount Global and India’s Reliance Industries.
Chapek said in February that he didn’t see a loss of cricket streaming rights impacting the longterm Disney+ forecast as the company has other content it can offer Indian subscribers. “It’s not like we see that business evaporating if we don’t get it,” he said.“It is important for Disney to use IPL to reset expectations in a more manageable range,” Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote in a research note on Tuesday.