Disney+ touts more than 10 million subscribers day after launch

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2019
The new subscription television service from Disney has blown past 10 million subscribers within its first 24 hours of operation.

The new Disney+ launched November 12 in the US and most territories
The new Disney+ launched November 12 in the US and most territories


According to CNBC, the new Disney+ streaming subscription service signed up in excess of 10 million users within its first day of operation. It did so despite reports of teething problems with he service that meant some users were not able to sign up or to stream Disney+ content.

It's not clear how widespread those problems were or how the number of subscribers might have been greater without them. Additionally, since a new subscriber gets a seven-day free trial period, it's too early to tell what proportion of the 10 million will continue once they are required to pay.

In a similar move to how Apple is offering a year of its Apple TV+ service to customers who buy iPhones or other devices, Disney+ is being made available for free to users of Verizon. Disney has also not broken out how many subscribers that offer has brought.

For comparison, however, Netflix added 517,000 subscribers in its last financial quarter. That company has been streaming video since 2007 and has a total installed user base of around 160 million, though. Still, Netflix had been expected to gain 802,000 new users in that time so its numbers are less than expected.

CBS took five years to reach a total of 8 million subscribers for both its Showtime and CBS All Access streaming services. And Hulu, owned by Disney, has a total of almost 27 million paying subscribers but began in 2007.

The Mandalorian is expected to be one of the biggest successes on Disney+
The Mandalorian is expected to be one of the biggest successes on Disney+


Apple has not released any statistics about its Apple TV+ service which launched on November 1. However Variety claims information that "millions" of viewers are watching that service. Apple TV+ also offers a free seven day trial to all users, and the vague and unsubstantiated viewing figures do not distinguish between paying and trial customers.

According to CNBC, Disney's stock was up over 3% on this news and on the same day, Netflix shares were down 1%.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Signed up yesterday. The app through my Apple TV 4K looks awesome. I played snippets of movies for hours, just checking out picture quality. It didn't seem fully integrated with the Apple TV app yet, but that may take a little more time.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    hodarhodar Posts: 357member
    Was very pleasantly surprised with The Mandalorian.  I think Disney has a hit with this series, if they can maintain the quality of the first episode going forward.
    lostkiwiJaiOh81BwlmogSpamSandwich
  • Reply 3 of 11
    Ran into a few glitches where video dropped out and the app crashed, but was able to get back in. One can imagine a big server farm somewhere outside Orlando, creaking under the load, with Goofy and Donald running around frantically, pushing buttons and getting tangled up in wires. If they took on that many subscribers - a large percentage of them browsing and starting and stopping content all at once - without any catastrophic failures, I'd say it's a win.

    There's a lot of UHD/Atmos content, and a very deep catalog. A year's subscription costs less than one trip out to the movies (with popcorn, candy and drinks) for a family of four.  

    This is surely going to be an inflection point for this business.
    edited November 2019 applesnorangesdewmelostkiwichasmmuthuk_vanalingamCarnageBwlmog
  • Reply 4 of 11
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Yes, but how many old users left Netflix? I left.

    Disney+ not available here. What’s it like? Name the kinds of stuff on there, please.
    edited November 2019
  • Reply 5 of 11
    ireland said:
    Yes, but how many old users left Netflix? I left.

    Disney+ not available here. What’s it like? Name the kinds of stuff on there, please.
    Large swaths of content from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel. Movies and TV shows. Digging through Amazon Prime is kind of like digging through bins of clearance DVDs at a big box store. You find a few things that you like, but mostly lots of cheap stuff, most of which you don't really want. Disney+ is not like that. 
    bfranksd_2dewmelostkiwiStrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingamCarnageSpamSandwich
  • Reply 6 of 11
    Does that 10 million include the 2 plus million pre-subscribers?

  • Reply 7 of 11
    I felt a great disturbance in the Force when Disney+ came online, as if millions of Netflix subscribers cancelled and the service suddenly silenced.
    freethinkingStrangeDays
  • Reply 8 of 11
    Signed up on day one. I only have a lovely 1080 P TV, but the picture quality looks great!
  • Reply 9 of 11
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    I signed up. Have had I issues on my iPhone or Apple  TV.  However the in-Browser streaming is broken. Online reports finger the DRM.   Supported OS and supported browsers end up with Error 83.   No matter what the show you are trying to stream.   It will show a second or three of the stream and then throw the error.  

    I was hoping to stream in my office as well, using my Mac.  
  • Reply 10 of 11
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 611member
    I heard the CEO of Netflix rambling that Disney+ was not a threat. He’s either choosing to lie or out of his mind. Most anyone with a child along with Star Wars and Marvel fans are buying because they have the product they want. Throw in Hulu and ESPN for another $7 or $8 and the writing is on the wall for Netflix, other streaming companies and of course cable and satellite. In the age of Internet and the speed at which things change any CEO laughing off or disregarding a competitor is going to regret it. 

    Unlike the other networks Disney is moving to where TV is going and not using hopes and prayers that there customers will stick with cable or satellite. 

    As for 10 million on day one, nobody knows except Disney and I don’t know if they plan to report numbers. My feeling is that they far exceeded that amount. 
  • Reply 11 of 11
    AppleZulu said:
    ireland said:
    Yes, but how many old users left Netflix? I left.

    Disney+ not available here. What’s it like? Name the kinds of stuff on there, please.
    Large swaths of content from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel. Movies and TV shows. Digging through Amazon Prime is kind of like digging through bins of clearance DVDs at a big box store. You find a few things that you like, but mostly lots of cheap stuff, most of which you don't really want. Disney+ is not like that. 
    Totally agree. A massive library of great stuff to watch. It’ll easily take me a month just to scratch the surface. And nearly everything on it is great stuff.
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