Recent reports revealed that Disney+ experienced a sharp increase in the number of subscribers ditching the streaming service after the brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
According to data from subscription analytics firm Antenna, as reported by The New York Times on Monday, Disney+ lost approximately 3 million subscribers in September, the same month that ABC suspended the late night show for Kimmel’s comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s assassination. This was roughly twice as much as the three-month average loss of approximately 1.2 million subscribers.
The “churn” rate, or percentage of subscribers who cancel monthly, also doubled for Disney+, jumping from approximately 4% in August to 8% in September, according to Antenna.
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Hulu, another streaming service owned by Disney, saw a similar trend with 4.1 million subscribers leaving the service in September compared to 1.9 million just one month prior. Hulu’s “churn” rate rose from 5% to 10% during that same period.
Despite the spike in cancellations, both Disney+ and Hulu also saw a significant increase in subscribers in September. Disney+ gained approximately 2.2 million subscribers in the U.S. while Hulu added approximately 2.1 million new subscribers, representing roughly 10% and 5% increases, respectively, compared to August.
Fox Business reached out to Disney for comment.
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Kimmel initially came under fire by audiences after falsely suggesting that Kirk’s alleged assassin was part of “the MAGA gang” despite reports about his left-wing ideology.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel told his audience.
Jimmy Kimmel’s show was briefly suspended on Sept. 17 after broadcasting giants Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group announced they would be preempting the program for Kimmel’s controversial comments.
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After intense backlash from media commentators, protests outside the studio and threats to boycott Disney, the show returned to air less than one week later on Sept. 23.
Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group then announced on Sept. 26 that they were ending the preemption of Kimmel’s show.
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