Note: FY'24 ended on September 28, 2024. Q1 FY'25 ended Dec 28, 2024
The drivers mentioned below are some of the most important and sensitive drivers of Disney's value.
For additional details, select a driver above or a division from the interactive Trefis split for Disney at the top of the page.
Disney is a diversified media company and makes money through several businesses, including cable networks, broadcasting networks, theme parks & hotels, filmed entertainment, and consumer products. The company has also recently added a direct-to-consumer business to its portfolio.
Its cable networks include ESPN, the Disney Channel, ABC Family, and others. Disney's broadcasting arm, ABC Network, is one of the biggest in the U.S. and has a wide viewership.
Besides TV networks, Disney boasts several theme parks and resorts that attract millions of visitors annually. Furthermore, the company leverages its famous characters and brands to sell various merchandise. Its filmed entertainment unit produces and distributes movies under the Disney Studios brand.
We believe that Disney's Experiences business is its most valuable business, given its high revenue base and stronger growth, particularly post the Covid-19 era.
Disney doubled down on the streaming space with the launch of its Disney+ offering in late 2019. While competition in the streaming market is intense, Disney's deep library of legacy content and popular franchises such as Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel could give it an edge over rivals. Disney is also investing heavily in content specific to its streaming businesses. The business turned profitable over the last quarter of FY'24 and it could provide Disney with recurring profits in the future as it builds scale.
Increasing competition among pay-TV providers, such as Comcast, Time Warner, DirecTV, AT&T, and Verizon, is favorable for media companies, including Disney, which can gain negotiating power in discussions regarding the pricing of subscription fees for their programming content.
ESPN increases its fee per subscriber every year, owing to a rise in sports programming costs which have become a cause of worry for pay-TV service providers. Some of them are considering dropping ESPN from lower-priced programming packages.
With the growth of online streaming companies such as Netflix, which monetize older content primarily, licensing opportunities have expanded for media companies. However, given a decline in traditional television viewership, ratings are hit hard, resulting in lower advertising revenues for most media companies. So far, licensing revenue growth has not completely offset the declines seen on the advertising front. Having said that, broadcasting networks such as FOX, CBS, NBC, and ABC have been able to contain the advertising decline due to their exposure to sports programming, which garners very high viewership and better ad pricing.
