Customers Ditched Disney+, Hulu After Kimmel Suspension -- WSJ

Dow Jones
Oct 20

By Isabella Simonetti

Customer cancellations for the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services jumped in September, after the company briefly suspended the ABC late-night show " Jimmy Kimmel Live!".

The rate of customer defections for Disney+ doubled to 8% from 4% in August, while those for Hulu doubled to 10% from 5%, according to data from subscription-analytics company Antenna. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of cancellations in a given month by subscribers at the end of the prior month.

Antenna estimated a total of 3 million cancellations for Disney+ and 4.1 million for Hulu in September. Both of those figures far exceeded the trailing three-month averages for the services, a sign of customers' ire over Disney's decision to temporarily suspend the show.

Disney took Kimmel off the air on Sept. 17, after his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr suggested during a podcast appearance that the FCC might come down on broadcasters that didn't take action against Kimmel. Owners of some ABC-TV stations, including broadcasters Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, told the network they were dropping the show.

Disney brought Kimmel's show back on Sept. 23. It garnered more than 6 million viewers, compared with the show's second-quarter average of 1.8 million viewers.

Nexstar and Sinclair agreed to return Kimmel's show to their stations shortly after Disney put him back on air.

Antenna's figures exclude some subscribers who join services as a result of an agreement with third parties such as wireless carriers.

Write to Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 20, 2025 10:07 ET (14:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

At the request of the copyright holder, you need to log in to view this content

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10