Disney+, which “is not yet profitable”, explains its new prices in France

The year 2023 was tumultuous for Disney. Marked by the actors’ strike in Hollywood, a small “war” with billionaire Elon Musk and the closure of the Lucasfilm animation studio in Singapore for economic reasons, among others.

But 2023 also marks the centenary of the American company. A centenary highlighted by the good results of its streaming platform: Disney+, which has more than 150 million subscribers around the world.

“The spirit of Disney”

In an interview given to Ouest-France and published on December 23, the president of The Walt Disney Company France, Hélène Etzi, welcomed the development of the streaming platform in France, with “the spirit of Disney.”

Last November, Disney+ once again demonstrated its ambitions with the acquisition of 100% of Hulu (an online subscription video-on-demand platform in which it was already a shareholder, ed.) for a whopping 8.6 thousand millions of dollars.

With Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount and other streaming services, the world of video on demand is highly contested in France. “Families have a great choice between television, streaming, video on demand and cinema,” she agrees.

Taxes of all kinds

In 2022, Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video paid 345 million euros for French audiovisual and film production. Or 159 million euros more than in 2021.

But in addition to this tax applicable to foreign subscription video services, Disney+ is subject to the media chronology in France. “We had a problem when our films, produced by Disney, were broadcast on television. We had to remove them from our platforms for five months. The same goes for the other platforms,” ​​laments Hélène Etzi.

Let us remember that the channels and platforms that provide more funds for creation (Canal+ and OCS) have the possibility of broadcasting content projected 6 months in advance in movie theaters, while the rest of the platforms must wait a longer time (15 months for Netflix, 17 months for Amazon Prime and Disney+ and finally 22 months for free TV channels).

Like Netflix, like the series. Squid Game, adapts its productions to video games, Disney Plus intends to diversify. “Video games represent the majority. We are growing with the number of licenses sold to our partners such as Play Station or Nintendo. Star Wars or Marvel continue to be the big hits,” he concludes.