Disney+ boasted 57.5 million subscribers at the end of June 2020
In a coronavirus-impacted quarter, Disney eked out a profit, with Disney+ holding 57.5 million paid subscribers at the end of June 2020, less than a year after it launched.
Credit: Disney
The Disney streaming service and Apple TV+ competitor first debuted in November 2019 and quickly started amassing subscribers. It had hit 50 million paying customers by early April 2020.
During its Q3 2020 earnings report, Disney reported that it had 100 million paid subscribers across its streaming services -- which includes ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+. As of Monday, August 2, Disney had 60.5 million subscribers, CEO Bob Chapek said during the company's earnings call Tuesday.
By early May, Disney's flagship Disney+ service had 54.5 million paid subscribers. That means a growth of three million subscribers in a little over two months.
Disney+'s sustained subscriber growth has largely been spurred by coronavirus lockdowns. Amid the global health pandemic, the company's direct-to-consumer services -- which includes its streaming services -- was among the only segment seeing yearly growth.
Across all of its businesses, Disney reported revenue of $11.78 billion for the quarter, a bit lower than expectations of $12.37 billion, CNBC reported. Although its direct-to-consumer and international segments saw growth, its parks, experiences are products were down 85% year-over-year.
Initially, Disney set a goal of 60 million to 90 million paid global subscribers by the end of 2024. Tuesday's subscriber report means that Disney hit its goal four years early.
Apple has yet to report firm subscriber numbers for its own streaming service, though research data suggests that it hasn't the same type of tailwinds from global stay-at-home orders.
Credit: Disney
The Disney streaming service and Apple TV+ competitor first debuted in November 2019 and quickly started amassing subscribers. It had hit 50 million paying customers by early April 2020.
During its Q3 2020 earnings report, Disney reported that it had 100 million paid subscribers across its streaming services -- which includes ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+. As of Monday, August 2, Disney had 60.5 million subscribers, CEO Bob Chapek said during the company's earnings call Tuesday.
By early May, Disney's flagship Disney+ service had 54.5 million paid subscribers. That means a growth of three million subscribers in a little over two months.
Disney+'s sustained subscriber growth has largely been spurred by coronavirus lockdowns. Amid the global health pandemic, the company's direct-to-consumer services -- which includes its streaming services -- was among the only segment seeing yearly growth.
Across all of its businesses, Disney reported revenue of $11.78 billion for the quarter, a bit lower than expectations of $12.37 billion, CNBC reported. Although its direct-to-consumer and international segments saw growth, its parks, experiences are products were down 85% year-over-year.
Initially, Disney set a goal of 60 million to 90 million paid global subscribers by the end of 2024. Tuesday's subscriber report means that Disney hit its goal four years early.
Apple has yet to report firm subscriber numbers for its own streaming service, though research data suggests that it hasn't the same type of tailwinds from global stay-at-home orders.
Comments
I feel like Disney+ will reach a point where it becomes tougher for them to gain new subscribers as it becomes harder to convince more and more people to pay for content they've already seen, or could easily see through other means such as cinema.
I remember when the unofficial slogan for iLife was "What's the point in having millions of applications on Windows, if the four I want are on the Mac." I feel this is why services such as Netflix won't suffer as badly as I had originally thought. These services have a good reputation for producing excellent content that can't be seen anywhere else. If it came down to having to choose between content I've already seen but loved, versus seeing "that new hot show", I daresay the new stuff might win - because the consumer knows they can always return to Disney+ later, or simply purchase the exact titles they want through other channels/mediums.
Any current gaps (although I don't know of any "frustratingly large" ones for adult programming) are likely due to syndication deals done long ago that haven't run out yet.
Disney+ is a service for families with young children (think DVD replacement), and adult Star Wars, Marvel, or Simpsons super fans.
What's going to limit their penetration is that those groups, while large, aren't *everybody*. Not sure why an adult who's not a superfan would subscribe long term, instead of just now and then to binge a new show.
I'd put money down that in the end it will be Netflix, Apple, Disney as leaders in the game. Other services will exist but they won't be popular or widely known.
Maybe time to let Eddie Cue go? But Services are growing every quarter so hard to say he's not doing his job. Hire Bob Iger? (I wish!)
1. Disney owns Hulu and will use it for the R-rated stuff that won't appear on Disney+. Hulu is also the one with live TV, not Disney+.
2. Amazon Prime has 112 million subscribers. That is twice Disney. Also, Amazon Prime is a throw-in for people who use it for free shipping. If the rumors about them adding live TV are true, they will be 1A to Netflix
3. Apple TV is limited by its only appearing on Apple hardware. The only exception is rather expensive Samsung smart TVs. Meanwhile, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Amazon Prime are on everything ... not just set top box or smart TV platforms like Fire TV, Android TV, lgOS and Roku but even video game consoles like Wii U, PlayStation and XBox plus whatever smart DVD/Blu-Ray players are still in existence. I know the theory is that Apple TV+ is supposed to drive Apple TV adoption but that is a lot easier when we are talking about a $30 Fire TV or Roku device or even a $50 Android TV device, but the Apple TV starts at $150 meaning that you can get a Fire Stick for every TV in your house for that. Further, all the other services - Disney, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix - are available via browser. Apple TV isn't.
4. Then there is the matter of content. Netflix is king. They have the most movies that you don't have to buy or rent of any service even with the major studios pulling content for their own streaming channels plus they have been producing their own movies and TV shows for years. Disney is still ramping up due to having to wait for previous licensing deals to expire but has their own plus Fox libraries and decades of Disney channel content. They are actually the best positioned to add new content to Disney+ because they can just ramp up their existing Disney Channel machine. Amazon Prime is actually a hybrid of their subscription programming plus their iTunes-like (except that you can stream it over the web instead of just locally via AirPlay) content that you can buy or rent so they have the most overall. Hulu never has had much in the way of movie content but they have tons of TV series content plus - again - they have live TV. Apple TV meanwhile does not have live TV, and even if they add it they will just compete with the existing players (Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, similar services on the way from T-Mobile and Verizon to compete with AT&T's TV empire, plus Amazon on the way) and they are just getting started with creating original content and purchasing existing content.
5. I left off HBO Max. The reason is because we don't know what the final shape of AT&T's streaming efforts using their Time Warner empire is going to be. The same deal with Comcast (who owns NBC and Universal) and Viacom (who owns Paramount, CBS and a ton of cable networks). Right now the latter 2 have a fragmented streaming strategy that is based on offering individual networks with some content accessible free but full access only available to those who also subscribe to those networks via cable. As cord-cutting increases those companies are going to have to join Time Warner in trying to come up with a unified streaming solution. But all of these - NBC/Time Warner, Viacom and Comcast - are already multiplatform on all the streaming, gaming console and smart TV platforms (as well as accessible via web browsers) - with their current streaming offerings and they will continue to be so when they merge them into a single one within the next 5-10 years. Note that I am leaving Sony off because they are the only major studio with no serious streaming presence - they are paring back their PlayStation Network stuff (which was only available on PlayStations!) - and they license their first and second tier movie and TV content to other networks, leaving their third tier garbage to their "free with ads" Crackle service.
So Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu and the channels offered by the 3 major TV/movie studio conglomerates aren't going anywhere. And Apple has no real path to catching them unless they abandon hardware exclusivity and - though this would raise real antitrust concerns - partner with or outright buy a major Hollywood studio like Sony.
More anti-Apple nonsense. So much wrong with what was said and so much bias.