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ESPN Hemorrhaging Subscribers, Down To 76 Million As Disney Scrambles To Stem Tide
Nation and State ^ | 11/25/2021 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 11/25/2021 9:10:00 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Disney-owned ESPN subscribers dropped precipitously in the last 12 months, shrinking another 10% to end fiscal 2021 on Oct. 2 with 76 million US households, according to a Friday SEC filing noted by Deadline.

Within ESPN, college sports-oriented ESPNU fell from 62 million homes in 2020 to 51 million over the last year, while ESPN News slipped from 62 million to 50 million over the same period.

The company said the drop - based on data from Nielsen, includes traditional Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) such as Comcast and DirectTV, as well as most digital Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming packages.

For reference, ESPN boasted just north of 100 million households almost a decade ago, a significant decay for one of Disney's longtime cornerstones. As Deadline notes, the drop in subscribers highlights one of the biggest conundrums in the media business - traditional TV networks are shedding subscribers due to cord-cutting.

Disney and ESPN execs are keeping a close eye on the subscriber declines and have fortified ESPN+ with increasingly robust programming. The billions at stake from traditional distribution and ad revenue, however, mean a wholesale shift to streaming isn’t likely anytime soon. The company firmly denied reports in October that it was considering a spinoff or even a sale of ESPN.

ESPN was at 84 million households at the end of fiscal 2020. Streaming service ESPN+, meanwhile, ended fiscal 2021 with 17 million subscribers, up 66% from the same time in 2020. It has posted significant growth since being bundled with other Disney offerings.

Disney is scrambling to right the ship, however, adding both ESPN+ and Disney+ to its Hulu Live TV package (along with a $5 per month increase in price), a move which will automatically boost subscriber levels. Hulu has approximately 4 million subscribers, while Hulu + Live TV is one of the leading pay-TV operators in the US, per the report.

The company plans to spend "as much as" $33 billion on programming in fiscal 2022, a 32% increase from the $25 billion outlay in FY2021.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: associatedpress; disney; espn; hatespeech; mediawingofthednc; mondaynightfb; nofansleft; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; subscribers; tylerdurden
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To: SeekAndFind

Went woke. Hope they go broke.


21 posted on 11/25/2021 10:17:16 PM PST by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: SeekAndFind

They still don’t get it. Stick with Sports and only Sports.


22 posted on 11/25/2021 10:41:07 PM PST by lee martell
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To: Manic_Episode

Thank you. You gave me a smile.


23 posted on 11/25/2021 10:46:53 PM PST by FreeperCell
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To: lee martell

“They still don’t get it.”

Yep. Saw a clip of them getting all political on their NBA show right after the Rittenhouse verdict.


24 posted on 11/25/2021 11:02:08 PM PST by MDLION (J"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" -Proverbs 3:5)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

“Stephen A Smith”

IMO, Stephen A is playing a character on ESPN. I heard him do a couple of interviews on Mark Levin’s radio show prior to COVID and George Floyd. If he listens to Levin, there’s no way he’s as knee jerk liberal as the character he plays on Disney-ABC-ESPN to keep the millions rolling in.


25 posted on 11/25/2021 11:10:09 PM PST by MDLION (J"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" -Proverbs 3:5)
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To: SeekAndFind

They still have 76 million subscribers? I think they have a cup half full but they think it is half empty. If they were filling their cup they would not be pushing woke on every show. I have pretty much never been a sports fan and ESPN is a complete waste as far as I am concerned. It’s the people that used to be jocks in high school that like sports.


26 posted on 11/26/2021 12:11:07 AM PST by webheart (I thought I was helping by getting vaccinated but they say I didn’t help at all. )
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To: SeekAndFind
ESPN and cable TV itself are going the way of the Vinyl record.


27 posted on 11/26/2021 12:17:02 AM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: SeekAndFind

Disney has the same idea as the post office: keep raising price until customers come back.


28 posted on 11/26/2021 1:23:50 AM PST by Redmen4ever
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To: SeekAndFind

They can spend all they want, but they won’t get me back. The only reason I had cable TV was to watch sports, but wokeism killed my interest.

I miss watching tennis, but I watch my grass grow more than ESPN now.


29 posted on 11/26/2021 3:19:31 AM PST by BuchananBrigadeTrumpFan (If in doubt, it's probably sarcasm)
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To: SeekAndFind

Like many, I grew up on Disney and seeing Walt give intro’s to all his magical shows about American Icons and American History.

Now, with gay Execs running Disney and pushing/peddling/selling all things woke and gay and Lesbian and Tranny the company cannot go broke quick enough for me. I haven’t watched ANYTHING Disney in decades. In fact, my big flat screen TV has been laying face down under my bed for many years. I don’t miss TV at all.


30 posted on 11/26/2021 3:21:12 AM PST by Cen-Tejas
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To: FreeperCell
In the last few months we here have also canceled Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Our version of cancel culture =)

31 posted on 11/26/2021 3:39:26 AM PST by Manic_Episode (A government of the government, by the government, for the government)
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To: FreeperCell

And NFL!


32 posted on 11/26/2021 3:40:48 AM PST by Manic_Episode (A government of the government, by the government, for the government)
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To: SeekAndFind

keep pushing your racial agenda and you all at espn can kiss my hairy ass.
Sports, not ideology.
Not some simpleton telling me i am a bad person cause i am an old white guy.


33 posted on 11/26/2021 4:09:12 AM PST by Joe Boucher (Kimber .45 )
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To: SeekAndFind
I've seen trade articles citing 50 million subscribers as the bottom number at which the operation folds because it's not worth it. Since the decline is accelerating and their fear is that it's coming far faster than they anticipated.

At a time with multiple sports betting apps entering, one might think ESPN would see some leveling off of their declining viewership but their decline remains unabated.

34 posted on 11/26/2021 4:25:34 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: SeekAndFind

Forced subscription to espn is one of the reasons why i switched to Sling last month..


35 posted on 11/26/2021 4:34:06 AM PST by mowowie
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To: SeekAndFind

Brandon Disney as well. It’s brand is forever tarnished.


36 posted on 11/26/2021 4:57:20 AM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: Ge0ffrey

Its brand (sorry, grammar police)


37 posted on 11/26/2021 4:58:08 AM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: dfwgator

Bingo.


38 posted on 11/26/2021 4:58:16 AM PST by bort
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To: VideoDoctor
Cable is the only way to provide intent service and speed for today's households.
Fiber installs are at an all time high in many areas. .
My brother is a supervisor for Frontier in Florida.
They can't keep up.
39 posted on 11/26/2021 5:08:30 AM PST by sausageseller (If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage. M, Thatcher)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s funny all these articles are written like it’s ESPN. ESPN is a cable network, and cable doesn’t ala carte. CABLE is losing subscribers. ESPN just happens to be along for the ride. Along with all the other sports networks, and the news networks, and everything else.


40 posted on 11/26/2021 5:29:33 AM PST by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick )
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