Mickey Mouse stars within the “Mickey and Friends Cavalcade” on July 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort through Getty Images

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Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort through Getty Images

Mickey Mouse stars within the “Mickey and Friends Cavalcade” on July 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort through Getty Images

It’s not all magic within the kingdom of Disney.

Overall income grew 4% however, like most media firms, The Walt Disney Company is navigating the ebbs and flows of client conduct, cord-cutting and a sluggish advert market, amongst different points.

In right this moment’s quarterly earnings report, CEO Bob Iger stated he was nonetheless optimistic concerning the firm’s future. He recognized three areas that he believes will drive future progress: motion pictures, parks/cruises, streaming/direct-to-consumer.

Here are six takeaways from right this moment’s earnings name.

1. Movies: Disney didn’t have the hits this summer time. Iger stated the efficiency of its latest releases had been “disappointing and we don’t take that lightly.” Still, he factors to Disney’s “tremendous run over the last decade” with such blockbusters as Avatar and Frozen. Disney has at all times identified methods to exploit its sturdy mental property with TV spinoffs, character-driven merchandise, movie-themed rides in its parks and the like.

2. Parks/resorts/cruises: Overall revenues for Disney’s theme parks and cruises elevated 13% to $8.3 billion. Attendance at Walt Disney World in Florida was down however that was offset by elevated attendance at its theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Iger stated “booked occupancy” for upcoming Disney cruises is at 98%.

3. Streaming: revenues for Disney’s direct-to-consumer choices like Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, elevated 9% to $5.5 billion. Driving income wasn’t essentially subscription progress however fairly elevated costs. Disney has elevated the value of a Disney+ subscription earlier than and it plans to take action once more. Iger stated the final time they raised costs, they did not see “significant churn or loss of subs which was heartening.”

4. Cord-cutting influence is “unmistakable”: Iger rattled nerves recently when he urged that Disney’s linear networks, together with ABC, FX and National Geographic, may not be important to its “core” enterprise (implying he might sometime jettison them). Today’s earnings report had been partly affirmation of that. Revenues for linear networks decreased 7% to $6.7 billion, and working earnings decreased 23% to $1.9 billion.

5. ESPN BET: Described as a “branded sportsbook for fans,” ESPN will partner with PENN Entertainment in a $2 billion deal to supply customers, “the ability to place bets with less friction from within our products,” stated ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro in an announcement.

Gambling is not precisely on-brand for family-friendly Disney. Rick Munarriz, a senior media analyst with The Motley Fool, jokes that, “it sort of just offloads the risk.”

“You go on a Disney cruise ship, there’s no casino,” says Munarriz, “For a long time, you couldn’t get an alcoholic drink” within the Magic Kingdom. “But there is money being generated from gambling on sports,” he says.

Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, arrives for the screening of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023.

Loic Venance/AFP through Getty Images

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Loic Venance/AFP through Getty Images

Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, arrives for the screening of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023.

Loic Venance/AFP through Getty Images

6. Bob Iger’s Mouse House: There’s been talk {that a} tech big like Apple may purchase Disney. Iger just about dismissed the concept as pure hypothesis. “It’s not something we obsess about,” he stated.

In November 2022, Iger got here out of retirement to assist put the Mouse House again collectively once more after some reported missteps by former CEO Bob Chapek. Iger was supposed to remain for 2 years. But Disney’s board just lately voted unanimously to extend his contract by means of Dec. 31, 2026.