Disney Lay Offs: The global job cuts have arrived at Disney as well. The media giants announced that it will lay off a whopping 7,000 employees. CEO Bob Iger officially announced that during the Q1 FY23 earnings call on Thursday. The primary reason is the falling subscriber base of Disney-Hotstar. The OTT platform was India’s No 1 with IPL LIVE Streaming. However, with Viacom18 bagging the IPL Digital rights besides making inroads in popular sports events, Disney-Star has seen a dip in subscribers. Follow IPL 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Iger stated that the layoffs are to sustain growth and profitability. The other aim is to reduce expenses and improve profit margins in face of global economic challenges.
“It’s time for another transformation, one that rationalizes the company’s enviable streaming business and puts it on a path to sustain growth and profitability. It is also to reduce expenses and improve margins and returns for better positioning of us to weather future disruption, increased competition and global economic challenges,” Iger said.
Disney Lay Offs: Disney-Hotstar subscriber falls big time, Disney to lay-off 7000 staffers after losing IPL Digital rights to Viacom18: Follow LIVE Updates
Decline in subscribers: Like all other streaming platforms, Disney-Star too has seen a steady decline in subscribers post-pandemic world. Disney has lost 1% of its subscriber base in 3 months, especially after the IPL Media Rights were announced. The company earlier indicated that the absence of IPL will lead to missing out on 15-25 million subscribers. Currently, Disney+ has a subscriber base of 161.8 million.
Why is Disney-Star laying off 7K employees?
- The company has hit hard on the subscribers base in the post-pandemic world.
- Like other streaming giants, Disney has also seen a decrease in the number of subscribers.
- The other reason is missing out on IPL.
- Disney-Star had a monopoly in cricket broadcast in India, especially in IPL for the last 5 years.
- However, Reliance-backed Viacom18 has won the IPL Digital rights for Rs 23.758 Cr.
- As a result, Disney-Hotstar will lose around 15-25 million subscribers.
- The decrease in popularity of new Marvel shows has also seen a decline in the number of subscribers.
It should be noted that live sporting events aren’t the only area where Disney-Star has lost out on. The falling popularity of Marvel shows are also one of the reasons. Marvel Studios has also acknowledged the decrease in popularity and promised to rethink content strategy, while cancelling many of the upcoming TV shows.
Disney Lay Offs: Disney-Hotstar subscriber falls big time, Disney to lay-off 7000 staffers after losing IPL Digital rights to Viacom18: Follow LIVE Updates
“We must also return creativity to the center of the company, increase accountability, improve results, and ensure the quality of our content and experiences. Virtually every dollar we earn every transaction, every interaction emanates from something creative. I’ve always believed that the best way to spur great creativity is to make sure the people who are managing the creative processes feel empowered,” Iger said.
Iger returned to Disney-Star in November to succeed Bob Chapek. He had hinted at layoffs while joining and now it’s a reality. Iger said that the company is targeting $5.5 billion in cost savings.
“We are targeting $5.5 billion of cost savings across the company. First reductions to our non-content costs will total roughly $2.5 billion not adjusted for inflation. $1 billion in savings is already underway. But, in general, the savings will come from reductions in other operating costs across the company. To help achieve this we will be reducing our workforce by approximately 7,000 jobs,” Iger announced.
Disney Lay Offs: Disney-Hotstar subscriber falls big time, Disney to lay-off 7000 staffers after losing IPL Digital rights to Viacom18: Follow LIVE Updates
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