How many Disney+ subscribers cancelled after Jimmy Kimmel firing allegations in November 2025?
Executive summary
Independent subscription-data firm Antenna reported roughly 3 million Disney+ cancellations in September 2025 — up from a three‑month average of about 1.2 million — coinciding with the brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel; Antenna attributed a doubling in Disney+ churn from ~4% to ~8% that month [1] [2]. Multiple outlets (BBC/Reuters, The Guardian, Variety, AP) noted the spike but also reported offsetting sign‑ups and caveats about Antenna’s methodology and Disney’s wholesale channels [3] [4] [2] [5].
1. The headline number: where “three million” comes from
Antenna’s month‑by‑month panel data is the basis for the widely cited figure that about 3 million Americans canceled Disney+ in September 2025 — a jump from an average of roughly 1.2 million in prior months — a change that news organizations reported as coinciding with Disney/ABC’s temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show [1] [2].
2. What “doubling” means in the data
Antenna characterized the change as a doubling of Disney+’s monthly churn rate from roughly 4% to 8% in September; outlets translated that churn increase into the 3 million cancellations figure and noted a similar, larger jump for Hulu [2] [3]. Those percentages are churn estimates derived from Antenna’s subscription tracking, not official totals published by Disney [2].
3. Caveats reporters and researchers emphasized
News organizations uniformly warned the Antenna data do not capture Disney’s full wholesale distribution — for example, subscriptions obtained through cable bundles or Charter’s carriage deals — and thus may overstate cancellations relative to Disney’s internal picture [2] [6]. The Hill quoted a source “familiar with the company” saying Antenna’s figures are higher than Disney’s internal metrics and that the firm’s wholesale business isn’t included [6].
4. Offsetting activity: sign‑ups and returns
Multiple reports noted the same month saw elevated sign‑ups for Disney+ and Hulu, and that many customers who canceled during the backlash may have re‑subscribed after Kimmel was reinstated — a dynamic that could blunt the long‑term damage implied by a one‑month spike [7] [8] [5]. Antenna data themselves showed higher new‑customer activity in September, according to Variety and AP summaries [2] [5].
5. Timing and reporting limits inside Disney’s financial calendar
Analysts and reporters warned that the timing of the September surge — late in the billing cycle — and Disney’s public disclosure practices complicated attribution: late‑month cancellations might not appear cleanly in quarterly reports, and Disney announced it would stop reporting standalone subscriber counts in the next fiscal period, reducing transparency [7] [2]. The A.V. Club and other outlets flagged that Disney could obscure some of the effect in official results [7].
6. Wider context: price hikes and political pressure
Coverage stressed the cancellation wave unfolded against a backdrop of preplanned price increases for Disney+ and bundled services and intense political debate after Kimmel’s controversial monologue and the company’s suspension decision; both factors likely influenced consumer behavior, making single‑cause attribution uncertain [9] [3]. Reuters/BBC and The Guardian explicitly noted price hikes and the political controversy co‑occurred with the churn spike [3] [9].
7. Competing interpretations in the reporting
Some outlets framed the spike as clear consumer “voting with their dollars” in protest of Kimmel’s suspension (A.V. Club/Variety summaries), while others emphasized methodological and distribution caveats that minimize the headline impact (The Hill, BBC quoting Antenna limitations and Disney’s wholesale business) [7] [2] [6] [3]. Both lines of reporting appear in the sources.
8. Bottom line for the original query
Available independent reporting and Antenna’s data place the number of Disney+ cancellations in September 2025 at about 3 million, corresponding with a rise in churn from roughly 4% to 8%, but that figure comes with important limits: it’s based on Antenna’s panel (not Disney’s official totals), excludes wholesale channels, coincided with price changes and heightened sign‑ups, and may have reflected short‑term protest cancellations followed by returns [1] [2] [6] [5].
Limitations: Sources provided do not include Disney’s internal subscriber accounting or later reconciliations; available sources do not mention an official Disney confirmation of the 3 million figure [1] [6].