Sales of police comedy drama Castle and fantasy series Once Upon a Time helped The Walt Disney Company post an 18% increase in profit for 2011/12.

Once Upon a Time

Net income for the 12 months to September 29 was US$5.7bn at the Mouse House, which last month announced the US$4bn purchase ^[1] of Lucasfilm.

Disney’s broadcasting arm, which includes the ABC network, saw revenue fall slightly from US$5.837bn to US$5.815bn year-on-year.

There was growth due to higher programme sales and lower production costs – due to the end of The Oprah Winfrey Show – but this was offset by lower advertising revenue and equity losses at VoD platform Hulu.

Meanwhile, growth at ESPN and the worldwide Disney Channels due to higher advertising revenue and an increase in subscribers helped Disney’s cable networks business record full-year revenue of US$13.6bn, up 6%.

Overall, Disney’s revenue for the year ending September 29 totalled US$42.3bn, up 3%.