Disney+ Hotstar loses 4.6 million paid subscribers in January-March

Disney+ Hotstar’s paid subscriber base has dropped 8% QoQ, or by 4.6 million, to 52.9 million for the quarter ending April 1, compared to 57.5 million in the trailing quarter ending December 31, 2022, according to Walt Disney’s Q2 2023 results.

In its Q1 2023 results for the period ending December, Walt Disney reported that Disney+ Hotstar’s paid subscriber base dropped by 3.8 million to 57.5 million from 61.3 million in the exit quarter of the fiscal year 2022. Walt Disney follows the October-September fiscal calendar.

In the first two quarters of fiscal 2023, Disney+ Hotstar’s subscriber base saw a reduction of 8.4 million subscribers. Industry watchers say that the churn in the subscriber base can be attributed to the loss of Indian Premier League (IPL) digital rights and the non-renewal of the content deal with Reliance Jio.