Disney Q3 Takeaways: Big Earnings Beat, Hulu And Disney+ Subscriber Numbers Rise, ARPU Falls

Walt Disney Co DIS reported fiscal third-quarter earnings after market close Thursday. Here are the key takeaways for investors to know.

What Happened: Disney reported third-quarter revenue of $17.02 billion, up 45% year-over-year. The total beat the consensus estimate of $16.8 billion. Disney reported adjusted earnings per share of 80 cents versus a street estimate of 56 cents per share.

The company’s Media, Entertainment and Distribution segment had revenue of $12.68 billion, up 18% year-over-year.

Disney’s Parks, Experiences and Products segment had revenue of $4.34 billion, up over 100% year-over-year.

Related Link: Walt Disney’s Stock Falls On Revenue Miss, Slower Disney+ Subscriber Growth

Streaming Growth, Lower ARPU: One of the big numbers investors are likely looking at is the 116 million Disney+ subscribers, up from 57.5 million a year ago and up from the 103.6 million reported in the second quarter.

The company reported a lower average revenue per user for Disney+ of $4.16. This total is down 10% from the prior year, but did come in above last quarter’s $3.99 total. A higher mix of international Disney+ customers is lowering the average revenue per user.

Disney reported 42.8 million Hulu subscribers, up 21% year-over-year. The average revenue per user for Hulu’s SVOD rose 15% to $13.15 and increased 23% year-over-year to $84.09 for Live TV + SVOD customers.

The company reported 14.9 million ESPN+ subscribers, up from last year’s 8.5 million total. ESPN+ subscribers had average revenue per user of $4.47, up 7% year-over-year.

DIS Price Action: Disney shares are up 5% to $187.91 in after-hours trading Thursday. Shares closed the regular session up 1% to $179.33.