Disney+ reaches 116M subscribers in less than two years

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited August 2021
Disney+ continues to rake in new users, with the streaming service doubling figures from 2020 to hit 116 million subscribers in Disney's third fiscal quarter of 2021.

Disney Plus


Disney announced the subscriber growth numbers (PDF link) alongside a Wall Street beat on Thursday, reporting $17.02 billion in revenue compared to an expected $16.76 billion, reports CNBC.

Disney's premiere streaming service, Disney+, hit 116 million subscribers to beat analyst estimates by nearly 1.5 million. That's a more than 100% bump from the same time last year when the product boasted 57.5 million subscribers.

Since its launch in November 2019, Disney+ has experienced meteoric growth rates that continue to outperform market expectations. In April 2020, the service accumulated 50 million subscribers after five months of availability, a figure that grew to 73.7 million half a year later. The 100 million subscriber barrier was breached in March, just 16 months after the product debuted.

While subscriber numbers skyrocket, Disney in its most recent quarter noted that the average monthly revenue per paid user decreased to $4.16 from $4.62 in the year-ago period. The change was attributed in part to a higher mix of Disney+ Hotstar subscribers in Indonesia and India.

Disney enjoyed growth across each of its streaming products during the third quarter. ESPN+ jumped to 14.9 million subscribers from 8.5 million in 2020, while Hulu subscriber numbers crept up to 42.8 million from 35.5 million over the same period.

Disney+ offers customers a wide selection of new and legacy content from Disney properties including Pixar, the Marvel Universe, Star Wars and National Geographic. Original shows like "The Mandalorian" and Marvel Studio's new "What If?" animated series offer fresh material to draw in new users.

Apple TV+, Apple's streaming service that dishes up original series and specials, launched at around the same time as Disney's service but has not seen the same level of success. The tech giant has yet to reveal statistics for its video streaming product, but estimates aired in May pegged Apple TV+'s subscriber base at 40 million at the end of 2020. Further, a large portion of Apple TV+ subscribers are on a free one-year trial gained through the purchase of an eligible device like iPhone. Apple cut its trial period down to three months in July.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    jgreg728jgreg728 Posts: 100member
    Thanks Constant-Stream-of-MCU-Content.

    Not much else to care about on Disney+ to stay subscribed honestly.
    ronn
  • Reply 2 of 9
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,009member
    If they do an earnings call, the first spot should go to Scarlett Johansson....
    Rayz2016MplsPronnlkruppwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 9
    Disney has firm hold of content. Most other players are no match. 
    mike1
  • Reply 4 of 9
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    "Streaming service that has exclusive rights to over 80% of content makes lots of money!"

    I don't like that Disney owns almost everything I want to watch, but if I want to watch it, I have to give them money. The more annoying thing is that I have to pay Amazon and Netflix more or less the same amount of money to get the rest of the stuff I want to watch.

    Then, with the local launch of Paramount+ this week, I can pay as much again to not actually get the content I want from Paramount+ because they licensed it all to Netflix and Amazon in this market.
    rob55watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 9
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 2,000member
    Well come November, when our latest year expires, you can subtract one sub from the total.  (Yes I know.  Big deal).  Disney has decided that "wokeness" is more important than great storytelling. 
    Japheyzeus423watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 9
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,286member
    anome said:
    "Streaming service that has exclusive rights to over 80% of content makes lots of money!"

    I don't like that Disney owns almost everything I want to watch, but if I want to watch it, I have to give them money. The more annoying thing is that I have to pay Amazon and Netflix more or less the same amount of money to get the rest of the stuff I want to watch.

    Then, with the local launch of Paramount+ this week, I can pay as much again to not actually get the content I want from Paramount+ because they licensed it all to Netflix and Amazon in this market.

    Most, if not all, of that content will revert back to Paramount once the older deals expire.
    ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 9
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,286member
    jgreg728 said:
    Thanks Constant-Stream-of-MCU-Content.

    Not much else to care about on Disney+ to stay subscribed honestly.

    That's the whole point and why it's such a home run. Amazing how many people are so narrow minded. Just look at the big picture. Nobody watches all the content, but virtually everyone wants some of the content. Some people want the Pixar and current stuff for the kids, others want the classics, some people want MCU and others want Star Wars. And many people want some combination of the above. The constant creation of new and complementary content keeps subscribers engaged.

    Their acquisitions over the last decade of MCU, Lucas Films and others were key to starting the Disney+ service and the knew it,

    edited August 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 9
    ciacia Posts: 252member
    With the exception of the MCU stuff, everything else on Disney I've either already seen (50%) or just don't care about (the other 50%).  When you don't have kids, the appeal of the service is greatly diminished.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 9
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Disney has firm hold of content. Most other players are no match. 
    Really? After you watch the Marvel and Star Wars stuff till you can’t stand it, followed by Frozen, Moana, Mulan for the kids, what’s left in their ‘firm hold of content’?
    watto_cobra
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