Australians have taken to the Disney+ channel with gusto — Disney reports that its global streaming‑base grew by 12.4 million over the previous quarter to reach 196 million combined subscribers for Disney+ and Hulu.
Disney+ alone now stands at 132 million subscribers.In the U.S. market, the company saw little or no growth, with foreign markets such as Australia that contributing most of the incremental subscriber increases.

Even though Disney missed its top‑line sales target, the fact that more people were using streaming services and that margins held steady gave investors confidence in the company’s chances of making money in its direct‑to‑consumer segment.

However, this didn’t stop the share price from falling about 8%.

Currently the company is girding for a potentially prolonged distribution fight with YouTube TV and owner Google, over carriage of its television network business.

Overall, Disney — which has halted running cruise ships out of Australia and missed quarterly revenue expectations — saw its U.S. TV business weakness overshadow the strong growth in its streaming and parks businesses which have become central to its growth strategy.
Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told analysts Disney has “built a hedge” into its forecasts, assuming the negotiations could drag on with Google.

Because Disney’s networks disappeared from YouTube TV (the fourth‑largest pay‑TV provider in the U.S.), the stakes are material: analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate a 14‑day blackout on YouTube TV would cost Disney about US$60 million in revenue.