Disney+ & Hulu Churn Rates Spiked During Jimmy Kimmel Suspension
When the popular chat show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, was temporarily suspended for a few days following ABC affiliate groups, Sinclair and Nexstar boycotting the show over some comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Many fans of the show took to social media in disgust over the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” situation, calling on fans to cancel their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions.
According to the latest streaming report from Antenna, there was a spike in subscription cancellations for both Disney+ and Hulu during this time. The cancellation rate in the United States for Disney+ doubled from the usual 4% to 8%, while the Hulu cancellation rate also doubled from 5% to 10%.
Within a couple of days, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” returned to screens, but at the same time, with many pointing to the campaign to get people to cancel Disney+ and Hulu, making a dent in Disney’s pocket.
However, Disney also announced that the annual price of Disney+ and Hulu would also go into effect at the same time, leading to even more negative publicity for the streaming service.
Yet, the data has shown that Disney+ and Hulu ended up with more signups in September than in the prior two months, with Disney+ adding 2.18 million subscribers, compared to 1.99 million in August. While, Hulu also added 2.11 million new subscribers in September, compared to 1.97 million in August. This data also doesn’t include any additions from its wholesale distribution deals with major platforms like Charter.
This data from Antenna doesn’t indicate if those customers who cancelled their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions, did so because they were switching, upgrading or downgrading their existing streaming tier.
Disney is also going to be following Netflix’s lead in no longer revealing its subscriber numbers each quarter, unless it reaches a major milestone.
Roger’s Take: There’s little doubt that the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” situation wasn’t good for Disney, and they without doubt lost many subscribers, or at least made some people question if they wanted to keep their subscription. I do also wonder how many people who talked online about cancelling their subscriptions, how many of them actually did it. The announcement of the annual price rise didn’t help with the negativity, but ironically, it might have resulted in Disney getting more money out of returning subscribers.
Did you unsubscribe from Disney+ during the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco? Let me know on social media!
