Since launching in November 2019, Disney Plus’ subscriber growth has blown past expectations.
The mouse house’s streaming service has announced a near 4 million jump in total subscribers since the last quarter, it has also jumped from early 2021’s 95 million to now a total of 138 million subscribers.
During its late 2019 launch, Disney’s goal was to reach 60 to 90 million subscriptions by 2024. Mission accomplished. They have surpassed that number by a whopping three years in advance. In fact, given the service’s strong momentum, Disney also stated in today’s press release that they now expect 230 million to 260 million total paid subscribers by September 2024.
With Netflix having actually lost subscribers this last quarter, which consequently tanked its stock, one can imagine a future where Disney Plus wound surprised the streaming giant in total subscribers — something we would have never thought possible just a few years since its launch.
These are the 10 most popular streaming services (by subscribers):
1) Netflix – 221 million subscribers
2) Amazon Prime — 200 million
3) Disney+ – 138 million
4) HBO Max — 76 million
5) HULU – 45 million
6) Apple TV+ — 38 million
7) Peacock — 22 million
8) YouTube Premium — 20 million
9) CBS All Access — 17 million
10) ESPN Plus — 22 million
“Disney Plus still has ways to catch up to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Both of these streaming behemoths have mastered the game of digital content and carry formidable forces behind their successes. The streaming wars have just begun and the pandemic has only intensified the battle.
During the pandemic’s peak, the average American was streaming 8 hours of content per day and finishing three TV shows per week. Yikes. Given the amount of free time we had, and, for millions out there, still do, these numbers shouldn’t be that surprising.
The film grossed only $205M against a $150M budget, losing Paramount a significant amount of money. It did, however, gain a decent following on streaming, but the financial risk for a sequel is ever-present.