Welcome back to Subscriptions Weekly. In this edition, we dive deeper into Q4 2022 earnings for major streaming brands and where they stand. We’ll review OpenAI’s new ChatGPT subscription and Twitter Blue’s updates on global expansion, verification checkmarks, and 4000-character limit tweets.

Disney+ streaming boom comes to an end

Last quarter, Disney+ added 200,000 new subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. However, the streaming service lost about $1.5 billion and had an operating loss of $1.1 billion, attributed to higher costs at Disney+ and Hulu.

Like many other companies, Disney’s making changes to reduce costs in a challenging economic environment. Bob Iger, CEO, says he’s targeting $5.5 billion of cost savings across the company and that a layoff of 7,000 employees will help achieve it. Learn more on The Verge.

After Q4 2022 results, where do all the major streaming services stand? These are the numbers as of December 31, 2022

  • Netflix: 230.75 million subscribers, up 7.66 million from September

  • Disney+: 161.8 million subscribers, down 2.4 million from September

  • Hulu: 48 million subscribers, an 800,000 increase from September

  • ESPN+: 24.9 million subscribers, a 600,000 increase from September

  • Peacock: More than 20 million subscribers, from over 15 million in September

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Apple now has 935 million paid subscribers

Apple had an interesting quarter. The brand missed its revenue targets due to problems in the supply chain and manufacturing, but its services revenue was a bright spot, with 935 million paid subscriptions.

These offerings, including iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, Apple One, and Apple Pay, brought in $20.8 billion. That is a 6% year-on-year increase as the company registered $19.5 billion during the same period last year. Read more on TechCrunch.

OpenAI to offer ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month

Last November, OpenAI released ChatGPT, an experimental online chatbot that could answer questions on almost any topic. While users can still access the free version, OpenAI has announced a premium version for subscribers to get 24/7 access, faster responses, and unlock new features. Learn more on The New York Times.

Twitter Blue updates: global expansion, checkmarks & character limits

Twitter is tapping over 100 million users in India, Brazil, and Indonesia. Twitter Blue’s monthly subscription is $10.9 on iOS and Android in India and $7.8 for users paying through the web, for instance. 

The brand continues to revamp the Twitter Blue offering, launching a longer tweet feature that allows subscribers in the U.S. to post up to 4,000 characters at once. Additionally, Twitter wants to charge $1,000/month for businesses to keep their gold checkmarks, although it’s unclear when that will happen. Read more on The Verge.

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