• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Walt Disney's domestic advertising revenue posted a 3% decline in the third-quarter period, according to analysts. The company said this was mostly due to lower viewership at its linear TV networks.

Disney's results were in line with an overall industry average for TV/streaming among all major legacy media companies in the third quarter, according to Brian Wieser, media analyst of Madison and Wall.

Mid-day on Thursday, Disney stock was down 9.3% to $105.79.

Analysts say overall direct-to-consumer (D2C) and parks/experiences results came in below estimates.

ESPN's domestic results were 8% higher -- a positive for Disney. But the company saw a decline of 20% -- 16% without political advertising comparisons -- for its linear TV revenues.

Its domestic D2C business (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN) witnessed "slightly negative trends," according to Wieser.

Overall entertainment revenues -- from distribution fees and advertising for non-sports programming including ABC Television Network, Freeform, Disney Channel -- were down 16% to $2.06 billion. Disney pointed to declines in affiliate revenue resulting from a loss of subscribers.

Global sports TV and streaming revenues, including ESPN, grew 2% to $3.98 billion.

Its closely watched D2C platforms showed overall growth, with total D2C revenues up 8% to $6.3 billion, and its D2C channels had a sharp 39% spike in operating income to $352 million year-over-year. 

While global streaming ad revenues are estimated to be flat, with domestic ad revenues sinking, Disney made major gains with higher subscription-revenue growth.

Compared to the second-quarter 2025 period, Disney+ was up 3% to 59.3 million in domestic subscribers, and 4% higher to 72.4 million. Overall, Disney+ added 3% more subscribers to 131.6 million.

A bigger improvement came to Hulu, where paid streaming subscribers rose 17% to 59.7 million.

Disney parks and experiences gained 6% to $8.8 billion, driven by stronger business for its Disney Cruise Line in the number of passenger cruise days and higher attendance at Disneyland Paris.