Disney reports its third-quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday.As is the case for all media companies, Wall Street will be focused on Disney's streaming segment — and whether it remains on track to reaching profitability by the end of the year.
During Disney's second quarter, Disney+ Core subscribers — which excludes Disney+ Hotstar in India and other countries in the region — grew by more than 6 million to 117.6 million global customers. Total Hulu subscribers increased 1% to 50.2 million; ESPN+ subscribers, meanwhile, fell 2% to 24.8 million.
Although ESPN+ has weighed down Disney's streaming unit, its TV network counterpart remains a bright spot for the company's traditional TV business. Nonetheless, that traditional TV business is expected to slump as customers continue cutting the cord of pay TV bundles.to spend $60 billion in investments on its theme parks over the next decade, a clear signal of the importance of the business.