Disney CEO Bob Chapek has warned the company’s streaming service has “hit some headwinds” during the fourth quarter.
Speaking during at a Goldman Sachs event, Chapek said the company expects to add “low single-digit millions” of streaming subscribers in Q4.
Chapek added that preparing for the launch of Disney’s new Star+ streaming service in Latin America, along with the Covid-related suspension of the India Premier League — whose games air on Disney’s Hotstar — and production delays from the delta variant have all hurt subscriber numbers during the period.
“We are going to see a little bit more noise than maybe [Wall] Street projects quarter to quarter,” Chapek said. “The resurgence of Covid and delta did impact some of our productions.”
He added that global production delays will be “very short term”, but admitted the streamer won’t have as much new programming in Q4 as “we might have expected”.