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State of the Screens

Bob Iger Thought He Was Leaving on Top. Now, He’s Fighting for Disney’s Life.

By April 16, 2020No Comments

Short retirement: On Monday, Bob Iger announced that he is returning full-time to the CEO role at Disney after less than 50 days of retirement.

Why he is coming back: Disney’s business model is uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19 changes such as closed movie theatres and theme parks along with canceled sporting events.

Big question #1: How does Disney make money today?

Disney 2019 revenue by segment according to LightShed Partners:
1) Theme Parks – 38%
2) Media Networks (ESPN, etc.) – 36%
3) Movie Studios – 16%
4) Other – 10%

Disney share of the domestic box office by year:
1) 2010 – 14%
2) 
2011 – 12%
3) 
2012 – 14%
4) 
2013 – 16%
5) 
2014 – 16%
6) 
2015 – 21%
7) 
2016 – 26%
8) 
2017 – 22%
9) 
2018 – 26%
10) 
2019 – 35%

Quick math on Disney Theme Parks Revenue:
1) $26.2B in 2019 revenue
2) $2.2B per month
3) $73M per day
4) 175M+ annual visitors
5) $150 in revenue per visitor

Big question #2: How does Disney plan on making money in the future?

Disney has made huge investments in the successful launch of Disney+, which will be a future revenue driver.

Total Disney+ subscribers:
1) Feb-2020 – 28.6M
2) Apr-2020 – 50.0M

Going global: Disney+ has started expanding beyond the U.S. with 8M+ subscribers coming from India alone.

Quick math on replacing lost theme park revenue with Disney+ subscribers:
1) $2.2B in lost monthly revenue from theme park closures
2) $6 per month (best case) in Disney+ revenue
3) 364M Disney+ subscribers needed to match theme park revenue

Estimated losses from Disney+ between 2019-20:
1) 
2019 – $4.1B
2) 
2020 – $4.9B

Video: Disney+ surpasses 50 million paid subscribers

More #1: Bob Iger’s Long Disney Goodbye Just Got Longer

More #2: An Interview with Matthew Ball About Disney and Bob Iger

More #3: Why Did Bob Iger’s Disney Announcement Feel So Rushed?

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.