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Disney’s short-lived suspension of Jimmy Kimmel under pressure from the Trump administration may have had a permanent impact on the company’s subscription numbers.
According to data released by Antenna, an analytics firm that tracks subscription and viewership data for major streaming services, cancellation rates for Disney+ and Hulu doubled from August to September – from 4 and 5% to 8 and 10%, respectively. So-called churn rates for Disney+ have hovered at 3-4% all year, with Hulu at 4-5%.
The surge in cancellations coincides with ABC parent company Disney’s 17 September decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) put pressure on broadcasters to crack down on its host, who accused Donald Trump’s political movement of exploiting the killing of Charlie Kirk for political gain in one of his monologues. The FCC chair, Brendan Carr, told Fox News that late-night talkshow hosts, including Kimmel, had transitioned from “court jesters” to “court clerics enforcing a very narrow political ideology”.
After widespread backlash and an ACLU-backed open letter signed by more than 400 Hollywood stars, Disney reversed course and allowed Kimmel to resume his show. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” the company said at the time. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Kimmel’s “comeback” monologue, in which the long-time host clarified his remarks on the killing of Kirk and passionately defended free speech, became his most-viewed monologue ever on Youtube, racking up more than 15m views in 16 hours.
His return also scored record broadcast numbers, despite not being aired on dozens of ABC affiliate stations owned by the companies Sinclair and Nexstar, which sought FCC approval for a $6.2bn merger and continued to preempt the show. Within days and after discussions with Disney, both companies conceded and allowed Jimmy Kimmel Live! back on the air, without Kimmel meeting demands to personally donate to Kirk’s rightwing activist organization Turning Point USA.
While it is unclear how much impact calls for a Disney boycott had on the company’s bottom line, the Antenna data suggests the outrage and calls on social media to cancel subscriptions in protest may have had some effect on the company. According to the Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the findings, the doubled churn rate resulted in the loss of about 3 million subscribers.
In a previously announced decision, the company will stop reporting subscriber numbers in the next earnings report.
