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Disney+ Now Has 95 Million Subscribers

"During the Investor Day presentation, the company announced that, as of December 2, its portfolio of direct-to-consumer services has exceeded a total of 137 million global paid subscriptions, including 11.5 million ESPN+ subscribers, 38.8 million Hulu subscribers, and a staggering 86.8 million Disney+ subscribers since its launch in November 2019. After greatly exceeding expectations, The Walt Disney Company shared guidance that it now expects its streaming services to hit 300–350 million total subscriptions by fiscal 2024, driven primarily by a significant increase in content output. Disney+ alone is targeting to release more than 100 titles per year."

thewaltdisneycompany.com

The Walt Disney Company Surpasses 137 Million Paid Subscriptions across its Direct-to-Consumer Services, Shattering Previous Guidance; Increases Paid Subscriptions Target to 300–350 million by 2024 - The Walt Disney Company

Company Announces Target of 100+ New Titles Per Year for Disney+ and Reveals Vast Slate of Incredible Content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, …Read More
thewaltdisneycompany.com thewaltdisneycompany.com
 
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Apple simply doesn't have enough content yet to justify a subscription. They're making gradual progress, but so far don't have a "must see" series. They've acquired a few movies, but again that's not enough content. Like other media companies, if they wanted a lot of subscribers in a hurry, they'd need to purchase a popular studio's catalogue. But I don't think that's their aim.
 
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LeeW said:
How many are actually paying though?
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We are and likely a very, very large percentage of the subscribers (even if you get a promo from your cable company or somewhere else). Any household in the USA that has a person under 18 would EASILY benefit from buying Disney+.

We have 3 kids under 12 and find countless shows and movies. We are also NOT big tv people. A few hours a WEEK is all we do and it's 90% movies on Disney or Netflix and we still feel it's a great bang for the buck.

We paid the flat $69.99, but even the $6.99/month is a bargain in my eyes.
 
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iFan said:
This is a runaway success for DIS, but not surprising given their content library. These numbers don't even include Hulu or ESPN+, which are also growing nicely and losing less money over time.
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Disney actually grew their average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for ESPN+ and Hulu vs a year ago, particularly for Hulu with Live TV ($59.47 as of Dec. 28, 2019 to $75.11 as of Jan. 2, 2021)

I'm sure the 2 price increases they've implemented over that time ($10 increase on Dec. 18, 2019 and another $10 increase on Dec. 18, 2020) played a big part.

I'd expect Disney to increase Disney+ price soon. Average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ fell from $5.56 as of Dec. 28, 2019 to $4.03 as of Jan. 2, 2021.


EDIT...

So CFO Christine McCarthy just said Disney won't be providing quarterly subscriber number updates anymore. Makes sense if Disney decides to raise Disney+ price. We won't know how it's affecting subscriber numbers.
 
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Theyayarealivin said:
I think Apple is more than capable of buying Disney.

Just look at the numbers here.

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Why is this always the argument? Apple can't buy anything like Disney because most of their cash is tied up overseas as part of tax avoidance schemes. They have the cash, but not in the right places. Apple's greed prevents it from having the cash on hand to buy large competitors. Not to mention nobody in big tech is going to get regulator approval for such a massive purchase in the current political and social climate.

Finally, can I just say, people on this site claim to love Apple for it's "innovation" and "superior craftsmanship" and yet those some people always argue apple should just buy its competitors. When a larger company buys a smaller but more successful company in a given market, it's a sign that they don't know how to market their own products and compete, aka, a sign of failure. Feel free to continue recommending Apple just buy its competitors, but know it would be a sign of weakness, not strength, if they were to do so. It would be good for shareholders and only shareholders, and a sign of Apple's continued inability to compete on the merits of their products for everyone else.
 
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MacRumors said:
Apple TV+ has not been able to positioned itself to compete with Disney+ because of Disney's established catalog of content along with popular Star Wars and Marvel original shows Apple's failure to acquire content catalogues and production assets several years ago when they could have easily afforded them.
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Fixed!
 
Apple_Robert said:
95 million is very impressive for the newcomer on the streaming scene.
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Without a doubt, however, I'd say, they're not new to content creation and media distribution, and, like the following quote points out:


iFan said:
This is a runaway success for DIS, but not surprising given their content library.
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They own so many major properties: their own classics, Pixar, Fox IP like The Simpsons, Marvel and Star Wars, and those last two have a massive, dedicated fanbase who are hungry for new content developed around that IP. Combined with pretty aggressive pricing (that includes significant amount of 4K content), it's outstanding, but not unexpected growth (especially in the current situation and the need for home entertainment).


FasterQuieter said:
Once I had finished The Mandalorian, which was nowhere near as good as I had heard, I couldn't find anything else to watch. So I cancelled.
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I completely avoided The Mandalorian, kind of eye rolled over the whole "baby Yoda" thing, started one time with a free trial, didn't make it past S01E02 before the trial ended, wound up wanting Simpsons, scored a good deal, sub'ed for a year, finally sat down and watched S01 straight through.

Wow. It exceeded my expectations, I waited for the wife to catch up so we could watch S02 together and we __loved__ it, and we're not SW nerds, though, this series woke something inside me ... my inner nerd has been released! :D

It's so much fun, we're anti-cutsie, don't watch network TV, dislike most "rom-coms". We like dark / comedy / action like The Boys, gritty shows like Deadwood, loved Fleabag, Mindhunter, Succession, The Watchman, this isn't totally in our sweet spot, but it was __terrific__.
 
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Im guessing the pandemic also helped Disney with those subscriber numbers. Especially in the U.K. They launched just as the lockdown started last March...
 
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In several markets outside the US they’re about to add a new brand called Star which will add content from Disney Television Studios, 20th Century Studios, 20th Television, ABC, Searchlight Pictures and more. I guess some of this will be content that’s on Hulu in the US.

This will no doubt result in a jump in subscribers. In the UK it’s arriving later this month with a £2 price increase.
 
You have kids? You have a pandemic? You have Disney+. Huge vault of Disney movies, Pixar movies, Marvel, Star Wars. Parents can turn their kids loose on it and not have any concerns about programming content. None of the other streaming services of which I'm aware really compete in the Disney+ market.
 
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SkiHound2 said:
You have kids? You have a pandemic? You have Disney+. Huge vault of Disney movies, Pixar movies, Marvel, Star Wars. Parents can turn their kids loose on it and not have any concerns about programming content. None of the other streaming services of which I'm aware really compete in the Disney+ market.
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Exactly! I hope some of the many subscribers managed to sign up with that 3 year deal for approx $4 per month.

Having SW and Marvel movies literally at my fingertips is something else. Sometimes I pose silly questions to myself like "Hmm, when do you first see the 212th Airborne troopers in Ep 3?" and in seconds or minutes I have my answer. Sometimes I just want to remind myself of a scene and I'll be watching it in seconds. Same could be said if you have digital versions of the Blu-rays but I don't own all the Blu-rays nor do I want to now.
 
Breaking Good said:
While this is certainly good news, the truth is that 94.0 million are just joining to watch The Mandalorian.
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If that were true, Disney+ would see a big drop in subscriber numbers after the season ends. But that's not the case. Disney+ has grown subscribers each quarter.

Disney Plus subscribers per quarter:

As of Dec. 28, 2019 : 26.5 million
As of Mar. 28, 2020 : 33.5 million
As of Jun. 27, 2020 : 57.5 million
As of Oct. 3, 2020 : 73.7 million
As of Jan. 2, 2021 : 94.9 million
 
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sviato said:
AppleTV+ is confusing. I got the free trial when I bought an iPhone 12 and finding shows to watch has been challenging. I'll find something that looks interesting and it says I need to rent or buy it. I don't see why there isn't an option to just see what you can actually watch with the subscription without renting or buying.
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Can't remember when they changed it, but it has its own category now:
Bildschirmfoto 2021-02-12 um 00.58.09.png
 
When Disney+ launched, Disney set a goal of hitting 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024, a milestone that it reached before the end of 2020. Disney has since re-forecasted and now expects to have 230 to 260 million subscribers by 2024.
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Oh, look! Disney has an MBA who looked at an Excel sheet and extrapolated the line from there.
 
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MacRumors said:


During its earnings report covering the fourth quarter of 2020, Disney today announced that it has surpassed 94.9 million subscribers (via CNBC).

disney-ios.jpg

When Disney+ launched, Disney set a goal of hitting 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024, a milestone that it reached before the end of 2020. Disney has since re-forecasted and now expects to have 230 to 260 million subscribers by 2024.

With that kind of subscriber growth, Disney+ will likely surpass Netflix. Netflix in January said that it had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.

Disney+ launched at the same time as Apple TV+, but Disney has seen incredibly rapid growth, reaching 10 million subscribers on the first day and 50 million subscribers at the five month mark. In December, Disney+ was at 86.8 million subscribers, so it has gained eight million subscribers in a month.

Apple does not provide Apple TV+ subscriber numbers so there's no direct comparison to make, but if Apple had Disney+ numbers, Apple executives likely would have mentioned it. Apple TV+ has not been able to compete with Disney+ because of Disney's established catalog of content along with popular Star Wars and Marvel original shows.

Apple has been ramping up its selection of movies and TV shows, but it will be years before the company has a catalog that can compete with most other streaming services.

Article Link: Disney+ Now Has 95 Million Subscribers
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I’m not sure how this is possible. Most of the content is very old. Unless your in it for the kid shows.

cheers, david Brodosi
 
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