Disney’s streaming business cleared a double-digit operating margin for the first time in fiscal Q2 2026, at 10.6%, with operating income up 88% to USD 582 million. The same quarter was the second in which Disney published no subscriber count at all, having retired that disclosure after reporting 132 million Disney+ subscribers in September 2025. Revenue for Disney+ and Hulu together reached USD 5.49 billion, up 13% and accelerating from 11% the prior quarter, driven mainly by the October 2025 price increases rather than by volume. The figures below come from Disney’s fiscal Q2 2026 and fiscal 2025 earnings disclosures, Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, Antenna subscription data, and Deloitte’s 2026 Digital Media Trends survey.
TL;DR
- Disney’s entertainment streaming operating income rose 88% to USD 582 million in fiscal Q2 2026 (Disney)
- Streaming operating margin hit 10.6%, the first double-digit quarter (Disney)
- Disney+ and Hulu revenue reached USD 5.49 billion, up 13% (Disney)
- Revenue growth accelerated from 11% in fiscal Q1 2026 to 13% in Q2 (Disney)
- Total company revenue was USD 25.17 billion, up 7% (Disney)
- Adjusted EPS was USD 1.57, up 8% (Disney)
- The last reported Disney+ subscriber count was 132 million, at September 27, 2025 (Disney)
- That split 59.3 million in the US and Canada and 72.4 million internationally (Disney)
- Combined Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions were roughly 196 million at the same date (Disney)
- Disney+ Premium rose from USD 15.99 to USD 18.99 on October 21, 2025 (Disney)
- Disney held 11.9% of US TV viewing in January 2026, its best month in a year (Nielsen)
- Disney’s share was 10.0% in May 2026, second behind YouTube at 13.8% (Nielsen)
- Premium SVOD weighted average churn settled at 4.6% (Antenna)
1. The Subscriber Blackout
Disney stopped reporting streaming subscriber counts from fiscal Q1 2026, which makes the September 2025 figures a permanent baseline rather than a data point. The last disclosed count was 132 million Disney+ subscribers, 59.3 million in the United States and Canada and 72.4 million internationally, with roughly 196 million combined Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. The decision follows the same logic Netflix used a year earlier: once a service is priced for margin rather than growth, subscriber count stops being the metric management wants investors anchored to.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Disney+ subscribers, last reported | 132 million | Disney, Q4 FY2025 |
| US and Canada subscribers | 59.3 million | Disney, Q4 FY2025 |
| International subscribers | 72.4 million | Disney, Q4 FY2025 |
| Combined Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions | approx. 196 million | Disney, Q4 FY2025 |
| Date of last disclosure | September 27, 2025 | Disney |
| First quarter without subscriber reporting | Q1 FY2026 | Disney |
| Implied US and Canada share of Disney+ base | approx. 45% | Derived from Disney figures |
The derived share is arithmetic on the two reported regional figures. Anything published as a 2026 Disney+ subscriber number is a third-party model, not a company disclosure. Comparable context for the category leader sits in our Netflix statistics. Source: Disney fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and full year earnings.
2. Revenue and the Margin Turn
The margin line is the whole story of Disney streaming in 2026. USD 582 million of operating income on USD 5.49 billion of revenue produced a 10.6% margin, up 88% in income on 13% revenue growth, which is what operating leverage looks like when price increases land on a fixed content base. Disney guided to at least 10% streaming operating margin for the full fiscal year and the quarter delivered ahead of that pace.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entertainment DTC revenue, Q2 FY2026 | USD 5.49 billion | Disney |
| Entertainment DTC revenue growth | 13% YoY | Disney |
| Entertainment DTC operating income | USD 582 million | Disney |
| Operating income growth | 88% YoY | Disney |
| Operating margin | 10.6% | Disney |
| Prior-quarter revenue growth | 11% (Q1 FY2026) | Disney |
| Full-year streaming margin target | at least 10% | Disney |
| Entertainment segment revenue | USD 11.72 billion, up 10% | Disney |
| Subscription and affiliate fees | USD 7.8 billion, up 14% | Disney |
Note that Disney’s “entertainment direct-to-consumer” line is Disney+ and Hulu together and excludes ESPN’s streaming products, which sit in the Sports segment. Sources: Disney Q2 FY2026 earnings and CNBC’s report on the quarter.
3. What Disney+ Costs in 2026
Price is now Disney’s primary streaming growth lever, and the October 2025 round was aggressive at the top of the range. Disney+ Premium went from USD 15.99 to USD 18.99, a 19% increase in a single step, while the ad-supported tier rose from USD 9.99 to USD 11.99, a 20% increase. Ad-supported pricing rising faster in percentage terms than ad-free is the tell that Disney values the advertising revenue attached to those accounts, not just the subscription fee.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Disney+ Basic with ads, new price | USD 11.99 per month | Disney |
| Disney+ Basic with ads, prior price | USD 9.99 per month | Disney |
| Disney+ Premium, new price | USD 18.99 per month | Disney |
| Disney+ Premium, prior price | USD 15.99 per month | Disney |
| Hulu and Disney+ ad-supported bundle | USD 12.99, from USD 10.99 | Disney |
| Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select with ads | USD 19.99, from USD 16.99 | Disney |
| ESPN Select standalone | USD 12.99, from USD 11.99 | Disney |
| Effective date of increases | October 21, 2025 | Disney |
| ESPN Unlimited bundle repricing for new subscribers | January 6, 2026 | Disney |
Deloitte found that 61% of respondents say they would cancel their favourite service over a USD 5 monthly increase, which is roughly the size of the Premium step Disney just took. Source: Variety’s summary of the October 2025 Disney price changes.
4. Hulu Absorbed
The structural change of 2026 is that Hulu stops being a separate product. Disney completed its full buyout of Hulu from Comcast in June 2025 and is merging the service into Disney+ as a single application during 2026, retiring the standalone Hulu app. For a company that has stopped reporting subscribers, the merge also removes the last clean way for outsiders to separate the two bases.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hulu buyout from Comcast completed | June 2025 | Disney |
| Single-app merge target | during 2026 | Disney |
| Standalone Hulu app | retired after migration | Disney |
| Migration approach | gradual, not a single cutover | Disney |
| Combined subscriptions at last disclosure | approx. 196 million | Disney, Q4 FY2025 |
| Reporting unit covering both | Entertainment direct-to-consumer | Disney |
| ESPN streaming reporting location | Sports segment, separate | Disney |
One consequence worth watching: bundling historically suppresses churn, so a forced merge into a single app should mechanically improve the retention numbers Disney reports even if underlying behaviour does not change. Broader delivery context sits in our streaming device statistics. Source: Disney Q2 FY2026 earnings results.
5. Share of the Screen
Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge rolls up every Disney property, linear and streaming, which makes it the only regular independent read on the company’s total attention share. Disney took 11.9% of US television viewing in January 2026, its strongest month in a year, then settled to 10.3% in April and 10.0% in May. It held second place behind YouTube throughout, and the gap widened as YouTube climbed from 12.5% to 13.8% across the same window.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Disney share of US TV, January 2026 | 11.9% | Nielsen |
| Disney share, April 2026 | 10.3% | Nielsen |
| Disney share, May 2026 | 10.0% | Nielsen |
| YouTube share, January 2026 | 12.5% | Nielsen |
| YouTube share, April 2026 | 13.4% | Nielsen |
| YouTube share, May 2026 | 13.8% | Nielsen |
| Netflix share, January 2026 | 8.8% | Nielsen |
| Netflix share, May 2026 | 8.0% | Nielsen |
| Streaming share of ad-supported TV, Q1 2026 | 46.6%, a record | Nielsen |
| Ad-supported share of all TV viewing, Q1 2026 | 73% | Nielsen |
The distributor view flatters Disney relative to app-level rankings because it aggregates ABC, ESPN, FX, and the cable networks alongside Disney+ and Hulu. Sources: Nielsen’s January 2026 Media Distributor Gauge and Nielsen’s May 2026 Gauge reports.
6. The Category Disney Is Priced Into
Disney’s pricing power only makes sense against the churn environment it operates in, and that environment stabilised in 2025 after three volatile years. Premium SVOD weighted average churn settled at 4.6% and category subscriber growth fell to 7%, down from 12% the prior year, which is a market where raising price on an installed base is a more reliable earnings lever than chasing net adds. Deloitte’s survey puts the average subscribing household at four services and USD 69 per month.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Premium SVOD weighted average churn | 4.6% | Antenna |
| Category subscriber growth, 2025 | 7% | Antenna |
| Category subscriber growth, 2024 | 12% | Antenna |
| US households with a paid SVOD service | 90% | Deloitte, 2026 |
| Average services per subscribing household | four | Deloitte, 2026 |
| Average monthly household streaming spend | USD 69 | Deloitte, 2026 |
| Subscribers with at least one ad-supported tier | 68% | Deloitte, 2026 |
| Would cancel over a USD 5 increase | 61% | Deloitte, 2026 |
| Frustrated by continued price rises | 73% | Deloitte, 2026 |
Full category detail sits in our streaming churn statistics. Sources: Antenna Q1 2026 State of Subscriptions and Deloitte 2026 Digital Media Trends.
Summary: Disney+ by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entertainment DTC revenue, Q2 FY2026 | USD 5.49 billion | Disney |
| Entertainment DTC revenue growth | 13% | Disney |
| Entertainment DTC operating income | USD 582 million | Disney |
| Operating income growth | 88% | Disney |
| Streaming operating margin | 10.6% | Disney |
| Total company revenue, Q2 FY2026 | USD 25.17 billion | Disney |
| Total revenue growth | 7% | Disney |
| Adjusted EPS | USD 1.57, up 8% | Disney |
| Entertainment segment revenue | USD 11.72 billion, up 10% | Disney |
| Subscription and affiliate fees | USD 7.8 billion, up 14% | Disney |
| Total segment operating income | USD 4.6 billion, up 4% | Disney |
| Disney+ subscribers, last reported | 132 million | Disney |
| US and Canada subscribers | 59.3 million | Disney |
| International subscribers | 72.4 million | Disney |
| Combined Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions | approx. 196 million | Disney |
| Disney+ Premium price | USD 18.99 | Disney |
| Disney+ with ads price | USD 11.99 | Disney |
| Disney share of US TV, January 2026 | 11.9% | Nielsen |
| Disney share of US TV, May 2026 | 10.0% | Nielsen |
| Streaming share of ad-supported TV, Q1 2026 | 46.6% | Nielsen |
| Premium SVOD churn | 4.6% | Antenna |
| Buyback target, fiscal 2026 | at least USD 8 billion | Disney |
Methodology and Sources
- Quarterly revenue, operating income, margin, segment detail, EPS, and guidance come from Disney’s fiscal Q2 2026 results released May 6, 2026 (earnings materials, investor relations), cross-checked against contemporaneous reporting (CNBC, Variety).
- Subscriber counts come from Disney’s fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and full year release covering the quarter ended September 27, 2025 (The Walt Disney Company).
- Pricing comes from Disney’s October 2025 rate card changes as documented at the time (Variety).
- Viewing share comes from Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge (January 2026, May 2026) and the Q1 2026 Ad Supported Gauge (Nielsen).
- Category churn and spending come from Antenna’s Q1 2026 State of Subscriptions (Antenna) and Deloitte’s 2026 Digital Media Trends survey of 3,575 US consumers aged 14 and over, fielded October to November 2025 (Deloitte).
- Data watch: Disney no longer discloses subscriber counts, so the 132 million figure is a frozen September 2025 baseline and will get staler every quarter. Treat any 2026 Disney+ subscriber number you encounter elsewhere as a model output, not a disclosure. Disney’s “entertainment direct-to-consumer” reporting line combines Disney+ and Hulu and excludes ESPN streaming, which sits in Sports, so it is not directly comparable to single-service reporting from Netflix. Nielsen’s distributor view aggregates all Disney properties including linear networks, which is a different measure from Disney+ app usage. Antenna and Deloitte both measure the United States only.
- Last updated: July 31, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly as Disney reports fiscal results and Nielsen publishes new Gauge data.