Disney+ turned a profit for the first time in the latest quarter. The American streaming service, together with the Hulu platform, has raised nearly 44 million euros for the entertainment company Disney. The company announced this when presenting the first quarterly figures for 2024.

It’s rare for a video streaming service to turn a profit. So far, Netflix has only succeeded as a global player. Competitors like HBO Max and SkyShowtime are also yet to turn a profit.

The moment came sooner than expected. Disney previously believed its streaming platform would not be profitable until the end of this year.

In the lead-up to this profit, Disney increased subscription fees, among other things. In the Netherlands, this amount rose from 10 to 11 euros per month this year. A few years ago this was still 7 euros. In the US, the streaming service offers cheaper subscriptions, with users seeing ads in between.

Additionally, Disney+ is starting to spend less money on its own productions, and, like Netflix, will try to prevent multiple people from watching through one account. Despite the increase in prices, the number of subscribers increased. Including the chain The bear And Shogun It attracted many viewers.

Yesterday, the streaming service HBO Max also announced an increase in subscription costs and a version containing ads.

In 2017, Disney announced the arrival of its own streaming service, competing with the then-large company Netflix. Disney was afraid to rely on Netflix.

But there were no profits for the first few years. A lot of money went there, amounting to more than 3.7 billion euros annually.

Theme parks are currently Disney’s main source of income, but the company has been struggling with this since the Corona pandemic. About a quarter of total revenue now comes from the company’s streaming services.