The Walt Disney Company released its Third Quarter Earnings Report for 2025 this morning. With it, the company announced growth, the success at its studios, the integration of Hulu into Disney+, the launch of the standalone ESPN app, and more. During the earnings call, CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston both emphasized how the company is in a strong position in an industry that is ever-evolving.
“At a time of great change for our industry when a number of companies are contracting, we are operating from a position of strength and building across our company with a continued focus on quality and innovation, leveraging our integrated businesses to create value in a way that is unique to Disney,” Iger and Johnston said in an executive commentary on Wednesday.
Iger and Johnston shared a few ways that the company is building throughout the company:
“We are building on the creative success at our film studios, resulting in the continued emergence of popular new franchises at a level that is unparalleled in the industry.”
“We are building on Disney’s value proposition in streaming by combining Hulu into Disney+ to create a unified app experience featuring branded and general entertainment, news, and sports that will be a one-of-a-kind entertainment destination for subscribers.”
“We are building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform with the launch of our highly anticipated Direct-to-Consumer sports offering on August 21. Our just-announced plans with the NFL would, upon closing, expand ESPN’s programming and content offerings for sports fans. And today we announced that ESPN will be the exclusive home for WWE Premium Live Events.”
“We are building on our best-in-class parks and experiences businesses, with more expansions underway around the world than at any other time in our history.”
“These efforts reinforce that Disney is an entertainment company like no other with a robust portfolio of growth businesses that are seamlessly integrated, supported by a deep library of beloved IP and enabled with cutting-edge technology,” Iger and Johnston said.
Disney also shared about the status of its three major segments as well:
Film & Television
Disney’s film studios continued their renewed momentum in Q3, growing our popular brands and franchises and further demonstrating their ability to generate ongoing, long-term value across our businesses.
The best example of this momentum was The Walt Disney Studios’ live-action Lilo & Stitch, which recently crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. That made Lilo & Stitch not only Hollywood’s first film to reach that milestone in 2025, but also Disney’s fourth billion-dollar-film in just over a year.
Iger and Johnston pointed out that the success of Lilo & Stitch has been seen throughout the company. It’s fueled viewership of the original 2002 animated film and related content on Disney+, with more than 640 million hours streamed globally; Lilo & Stitch is on track to become the company’s second-largest licensed merchandise franchise this year behind only Mickey Mouse; and Stitch has also been deployed across Disney’s parks and experiences worldwide. A sequel to the film is already in development.
Beyond the box office, Disney’s series displayed strong performance across streaming and linear. That includes Disney being responsible for four of the top five streaming programs in the U.S. for the first half of the calendar year. [1]
The company also earned 137 Emmy nominations last month across 50 titles — “a testament to the strength and breadth of our portfolio,” Iger and Johnston said. Leading the way was Lucasfilm’s Andor with 14 nominations.
In addition, Disney remains a leader in children’s and family programming with the three most streamed shows for preschoolers. [2]
Streaming
Iger and Johnston announced plans for, “a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+.”
“This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news, and industry-leading live sports content in a single app,” Iger and Johnston said. “By creating a truly differentiated streaming offering, we will be providing subscribers tremendous choice, convenience, quality, and enhanced personalization.”
Hulu will also become a global general entertainment brand, and in the fall, it will replace the Star tile on Disney+ internationally. Iger and Johnston added that over the coming months Disney will be “implementing numerous improvements within the Disney+ app, including exciting new features and a more personalized homepage.”
“All of this work will culminate with the unified Disney+ and Hulu streaming app experience that will be available to consumers next year,” the two said.
Sports
Speaking of streaming, Disney today announced the launch of ESPN’s long-awaited Direct-to-Consumer offering will be on August 21. The offering will include ESPN’s full suite of networks and services made directly available to fans for the first time.
Iger and Johnston also discussed the non-binding agreement announced yesterday under which ESPN will acquire NFL Network and certain other media assets owned and controlled by the NFL, providing an even richer content experience for fans, in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN. [3]
Separately, ESPN and the NFL reached an agreement which includes expanded NFL highlight rights within multiple fan-engagement platforms, and more interactive features for ESPN’s DTC offering and the ESPN App, including betting and fantasy. ESPN will also gain the ability to sell and bundle NFL+ Premium, which includes NFL Network and NFL RedZone, to its ESPN DTC subscribers, along with rights to additional non-exclusive preseason NFL games for its DTC offering, both starting in the 2025 season. An additional separate agreement extends ESPN’s NFL Draft rights, with the ability to stream ESPN and ABC’s draft coverage on ESPN DTC, Hulu, and Disney+.
Separately, Iger and Johnston highlighted that ESPN will become the exclusive home for WWE Premium Live Events, further expanding ESPN’s rights portfolio.
“We are committed to offering sports fans tremendous choice, convenience, and quality,” Iger and Johnston said.
Experiences
As for Disney’s Experience segment, it delivered “another outstanding quarter driven by growth across all businesses at Domestic Parks & Experiences,” Iger and Johnston said.
“We recently celebrated Disneyland’s 70th anniversary and Hong Kong Disneyland’s 20th anniversary, and the ongoing celebrations are receiving tremendous receptions from our guests,” the two said. “We have expansions currently underway at every one of our theme parks globally, including a new World of Frozen land opening at Disneyland Paris in 2026, Villains and Cars themed areas coming to Magic Kingdom, a Monsters Inc. area coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, an Avatar-themed destination coming to Disney California Adventure. This is in addition to a new theme park coming to Abu Dhabi.”
Disney Cruise Line is also expanding as Disney prepares to launch two new ships later this year, which will bring the company’s fleet to a total of eight.
The executive commentary concluded with Iger and Johnston saying that “Disney operates in a league of its own, and our achievements this quarter demonstrate how we continue to successfully execute across our strategic priorities.”
“We are taking major steps forward in streaming with the upcoming launch of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service, our just-announced plans with the NFL, and our forthcoming integration of Hulu into Disney+, creating a truly differentiated streaming proposition that harnesses the highest caliber brands and franchises, general entertainment, family programming, news, and industry-leading sports content,” the two continued. “With ambitious plans ahead for all of our businesses, we’re not done building, and we are excited for the company’s future.”
[3]: The planned transaction is subject to the parties’ negotiation of definitive agreements, regulatory and other approvals and other conditions.
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