Disney/ABC brought back Jimmy Kimmel Live last week, after not even a full week’s suspension. Unlike so many of the other media capitulations, Jimmy Kimmel was someone to rally behind and the pushback on Kimmel’s suspension was an immediate story across media, culture and headline news. Disney-affiliated artists spoke out about Kimmel. One of the most effective counterattacks: people began dropping their Disney, Hulu and ESPN subscription en masse. As Puck News noted, “Online boycotts like this don’t usually amount to much, especially in the long term. But certain moments can gain traction. As one financial analyst told me, Bob Iger undoubtedly wanted to minimize a subscriber exodus just as the company’s fourth fiscal quarter ended.” So just how bad was it? Reportedly, more than 1.7 million people dropped their subscriptions.

Disney lost 1.7 million paid streaming subscribers who cancelled service in the immediate aftermath of ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves, according to journalist Marisa Kabas. Kimmel’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, was suspended for a week after President Donald Trump’s FCC pressured local TV stations to drop the late-night host, though he’s since been returned to the air.

“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,” Kabas wrote on Bluesky Monday.

Kabas reports that 1.7 million was 436% above a subscriber loss that’s typical for the same period, though Disney didn’t immediately respond to Gizmodo’s questions about the report. Kabas broke a story last week in The Handbasket about a planned price increase for Disney+. Disney announced Kimmel was coming back shortly before the price increase was officially announced.

Calls to cancel Disney-owned streaming services went viral across several social media platforms as a way to express discontent with Disney’s decision. And it’s not clear how many subscribers may plan to return since Kimmel is back on the air.

[From Gizmodo]

Puck’s sources hilariously suggested that the increase in cancellations were only six times the normal number, or that the number was little more than a minor accounting blip. 1.7 million is a huge number which represents billions of dollars lost. Which is why Disney’s shareholders are still demanding answers to how Bob Iger f–ked this up – Deadline had a fascinating story about the shareholders’ legal threats, and we should hear more about that this week.

Photos courtesy of ABC/JKL and Avalon Red.