NEW YORK Walt Disney reported a marked decline in second-quarter (fiscal year) profits, as a staggering economy took its tolls on the company’s studio, television and theme parks units.
For the three months ended March 31, Disney posted $613 million in net income, a 46 percent drop versus the year-ago period, on revenue of $8.09 billion.
Disney’s movie business accounted for the greatest segment declines, as studio revenue fell 21 percent, to $1.44 billion. On the other hand, the Mouse’s media networks posted slight gains versus FY Q2, as the TV arm grew revenue 2 percent to $3.62 billion.
Operating income at the media networks unit declined 4 percent in the quarter to $1.31 billion, as lower ad sales at ABC’s owned-and-operated stations and increased programming costs at ABC contributed to a 38 percent drop in broadcast income. At the same time, the cable holdings (ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family, et al.) grew operating income 5 percent, to $1.14 billion.
“Ad sales at ABC were down modestly versus last year,” said Tom Staggs, senior evp and chief financial officer,” who added that scatter pricing is coming in slightly over upfront rates. “We see some stabilization in the marketplace, and while it’s certainly not as robust as a year ago, there’s a market there to be had.”
At ESPN, ad sales were off “by a high single-digit percentage, consistent with what we saw in Q1,” Skaggs said. Results were driven down by weaknesses in core sports categories (automotive, financial services, consumer electronics).
While Disney did not provide specific percentages, the cable unit seemed to outperform analysts’ expectations. A week ago, UBS analyst Michael Morris told investors to expect a 12 percent drop in ad dollars at ESPN, while predicting a 9 percent falloff for the entire Disney cable group.
“Automotive is one of our biggest categories, but it isn’t as prevalent at ESPN as it is, say, at the TV stations,” Skaggs said, before adding that ESPN has been able to round up replacement dollars. “We have seen [ESPN/ABC Sports ad sales chief] Ed Erhadt’s team make up some ground with men’s grooming and insurance. It doesn’t make up for all of [the lost auto dollars], but they’re out there doing a good job in this marketplace.”
Disney president and CEO Robert Iger added that ESPN has done quite well with its National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball packages, and that “movie studios and quick-serve restaurants have been quite helpful.”
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