Walt Disney Co DIS CEO Bob Chapek touched on the global expansion plans for the company’s subscription video-on-demand business on Thursday.
What Happened: At the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Chapek revealed that the launch of Disney+ in Eastern Europe has been delayed from late 2021 to the summer of 2022 to “allow for an expanded footprint that will include parts of the Middle East and South Africa.”
In Japan — where it is currently available in a limited capacity — Disney+ will expand to full market in October.
Expansion in the Asia Pacific markets, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, will take place in mid-November, as per Chapek.
The CEO noted in response to a question that Japan continues to be under a state of emergency and that has “has disrupted that marketplace” as Disney moves from “a fairly limited distribution now to a much more broad distribution.”
See Also: How To Buy Disney (DIS) stock
Why It Matters: Disney’s Q3 earnings per share amounted to 80 cents beating Street estimates of 56 cents.
Disney+ average revenue per user of $4.16 fell 10% year-over-year as a higher mix of international Disney+ customers impacted the number.
The entertainment giant launched its Disney+ Hotstar service in Malaysia and Thailand in the third quarter.
Disney’s international efforts would be on display on Disney+ Day slated for Nov. 12, as per Chapek.
The number of worldwide streaming subscriptions topped 1.1 billion last year, as per the Motion Picture Association, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The growth has been fueled by the expansion of Disney+ rivals Netflix Inc NFLX, which saw 89% of its new customers in the first three months of 2021 come from outside of the U.S. and Canada, as per the Journal.
Amazon.com Inc's AMZN Prime Video service meanwhile saw the number of international subscriptions rise by more than 80% in 2020 compared with the previous year.
The move to these international markets comes as the domestic one is increasingly saturated, the Journal noted.
Photo: Courtesy of Disney
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