• by Wayne Friedman , May 7, 2025

Walt Disney posted some surprising streaming subscriber gains for the second quarter of this year -- as well as overdelivering on company-wide revenues and profits in the second quarter.

Disney+ and Hulu streaming subscribers grew 2.5 million from the first quarter to 180.7 million, while Disney+ was up 1.4 million to 126 million.

All direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses witnessed operating income growth of 16% to $336 million (versus the first quarter), with revenues up 8% year-over-year to $6.1 billion.

In mid-day Wednesday trading, Disney stock grew 10% to $101.70.

While global advertising only inched up 1%, domestic linear TV, ESPN, and streaming advertising grew 12%.

ESPN sports domestic TV advertising was key to this result -- up 29%, driven by the additional College Football Playoff and NFL games.

A broader view of linear TV networks had revenues dipping 13% (to $2.4 billion); with operating improving 2% (to $769 million). Disney said this mixed result was due to shifted timing of the release of new TV shows -- lower programming and marketing costs.

There was big news for Disney's domestic parks and experiences -- with operating income up 9% to $2.5 billion and revenue 6% higher to $8.9 billion. Disney also announced a new $30 billion theme park that will be built in Abu Dhabi.

Overall, Disney revenues grew 7% to $23.6 billion; with operating income gaining 61% to $1.3 billion.