Disney finally turns a streaming profit, but you’re still gonna have to pay them more

Be prepared, Netflix; Disney just proved that they can go the distance in the rat (or mouse?) race toward streaming profitability. Actually, we’ll stop with the Disney puns—the happiest place on earth has siphoned enough from us already.

For years, Netflix had been the only streamer to actually turn a profit, a statistic that feels increasingly insane every time we’re forced to type it in yet another article about platforms raising their prices… again. Now, they have to share the spotlight. Envy quite literally drove Disney’s streaming services into the black, a full fiscal quarter ahead of their previously announced schedule. By “envy,” we of course mean the capitalistic spirit, be that as it may, but also the little blue character Ayo Edebiri voices inside all of our heads. 

According to Deadline, the massive success of Inside Out 2 was a huge driver in this victory for Pixar’s parent company. Not only is the film currently sitting on a $1.56 billion global box office, but the trade suggests that it also inspired 1.3 million new Disney+ signups to watch Bing Bong disappear all over again. (The original Inside Out apparently grew by 100 million views globally.) We’d love to believe that at least some of those subscribers were there to watch Percy Jackson And The Olympians or The Acolyte, but the important thing right now is that number.

Despite all this, there’s still a little Embarrassment for Disney+ as a unique platform. While the company reported $47 million in overall operating income (as opposed to last year’s $512 million loss), Disney+ and Hulu actually lost $19 million collectively. That gap was more than made up by revenue from ESPN+, according to Deadline, with the other two platforms slated to become profitable by the end of the fiscal year.

Awesome, you may be thinking. Now that they’ve hit their goal my bills won’t keep going up! Wouldn’t that be nice? Just yesterday, the company announced yet another round of price hikes, about a year after the last round according to The Hollywood Reporter. Effective October 17, ad-supported tiers for both Disney+ and Hulu will increase by $2 to $9.99 per month, with Disney+’s ad-free tier raising by $2 to $15.99 and Hulu’s raising by $1 to $18.99. ESPN+ will also increase by $1 to $11.99 per month. Maybe don’t promise Robert Downey Jr. that private jet next time, yeah?