Disney+ hits 95m subs
February 12, 2021
Disney+ has signed up nearly 95 million subscribers in just over a year.
Disney’s latest quarterly results showed continued meteoric growth for the SVoD platform, which first launched in November 2019. Disney+ had 94.9 million paid subscribers as of January 2nd 2021, compared to 86.8 million in early December 2020.
Disney+ far exceeded the company’s initial target of 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024 in November 2020, forcing it to reforecast. The company now predicts Disney+ will have 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024. For comparison, Netflix currently has around 204 million subscribers.
Disney’s revenues from direct-to-consumer services, which also include Hulu and ESPN+ climbed to $3.5 billion (€2.8bn), up 73 per cent year on year – though Disney+ was not launched until part-way through the earlier period. The division remains in the red but losses have shrunk from $1.1 billion to $466 million.
Including Hulu and ESPN+, the number of paid streaming subscribers topped 146 million.
Disney+ will add Star to its line-up later this month, whilst the first price hike will occur at the same time.
“We believe the strategic actions we’re taking to transform our Company will fuel our growth and enhance shareholder value, as demonstrated by the incredible strides we’ve made in our DTC business, reaching more than 146 million total paid subscriptions across our streaming services at the end of the quarter,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We’re confident that, with our robust pipeline of exceptional, high-quality content and the upcoming launch of our new Star-branded international general entertainment offering, we are well-positioned to achieve even greater success going forward.”