After Disney announced that it was suspending ABC late-night show Jimmy Kimmel on September 17 over his comments about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, there were loud calls for consumers to cancel their subscriptions to Disney streaming products such as Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.
Disney reinstated Kimmel’s show six days after the incident. Sinclair and Nexstar, which each own dozens of ABC affiliates nationwide and had initiated the move in response to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s threats of punitive action against ABC, Disney, and its affiliates, brought the show back to their stations on Friday.
While many championed the Disney cancellations as a prime factor in why the media giant moved so quickly to reinstate Kimmel (along with the fact that they were raising some streaming package prices the following day), it was unclear just how many people canceled their subscriptions and what the real impact of that boycott was.
According to reporter Marisa Kabas, the cancellations reached nearly two million subscribers.
Kabas, who reported last week that the reinstatement was driven in large part by the impending price increases, shared Monday that Disney saw 1.7 million subscribers cancel between September 17 and 23, the period in which Kimmel was suspended.
SCOOP / UPDATE — Disney saw more than 1.7 million total paid streaming cancelations during the period 9/17-9/23, a Disney source confirms to me. The total includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN.
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) September 29, 2025 at 10:19 AM
“Disney saw more than 1.7 million total paid streaming cancelations during the period 9/17-9/23, a Disney source confirms to me,” Kabas wrote on Bluesky. “The total includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.”
Per Variety, Disney’s combined Disney+ and Hulu subscribers reached 183 million in June, though the company announced in August that it would no longer report the number of subscribers for its Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN streaming services.
As for ESPN, the numbers are a little hazier, as they recently launched ESPN Unlimited. According to third-party data firm Antenna, ESPN Unlimited and Fox One generated approximately one million combined subscribers during the period from August 21 (when both apps launched) to August 31. These subscriber numbers do not include existing Disney subscribers who have switched plans or those who access ESPN Unlimited through a traditional pay-TV subscription.
If we do a little back-of-the-napkin math, that 1.7 million number doesn’t sound like much (it’s likely less than one percent of overall subscribers at this point). However, Disney told investors in early August that it expected to rack up an additional 10 million subscribers between July and September. There’s nothing corporate behemoths and their boards hate more than disappointing Wall Street, and a subscriber base loss like that would likely be enough to undercut those expectations.
Even though Disney ended Kimmel’s suspension, they’re not out of the woods when it comes to pushback and fallout. A group of angry investors is demanding materials to explain why they suspended the ABC host. They’ve received harsh rebukes from people on both sides of the aisle over concerns about free speech. And they now have to navigate incredibly murky waters as they attempt to get the NFL-ESPN deal approved by a politicized FCC while several high-ranking Democrats raise concerns.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.