Subscribers of Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, more than doubled from November to 26.5 million total subscribers, the company said Tuesday.
Courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
That user base, which reflects the total as of Dec. 28, 2019, came just months after Disney reported signing up 10 million subscribers to its flagship streaming platform that launched in November.
Disney reported net income of $2.11 billion in the first quarter, or $1.16 a share, which fell from a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $1.53 a share, compared with analysts’ estimate of $1.46 a share, according to FactSet.
MacDailyNews Take: With 26.5 million total subscribers, Disney+ is moving right along, as we expected it would.
At its current price, with a deep library, and already at 23.2 million, Disney+ should move up this list very quickly and give Netflix a real run for their money. Apple TV+ is obviously performing well and Apple’s challenge will be to build out quality Apple Originals content rapidly so that when the time arrives, subscribers will want to renew. With series like The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See and many more already renewed for second seasons, viewers of those series are likely to renew easily, especially at just $4.99/month. — MacDailyNews, January 24, 2020
Late last month, The Wall Street Journal reported via sidebar graphic on “Q4 2019 U.S. customer base by service,” (source: Ampere Analysis) that showed:
• Netflix: 61.3 million
• Amazon Prime Video: 42.2 million
• Apple TV+: 33.6 million
• Hulu: 31.8 million
• Disney+: 23.2 million
Launch dates:
• Amazon Prime Video: September 2006 (Amazon Unbox)
• Netflix: February 2007 (streaming)
• Hulu: March 2008
• Apple TV+: November 1, 2019
• Disney+: November 13, 2019
Now that Disney owns most if not all of Hulu, it’s going to be interesting how much faster they shoot up the list. Of the services listed, Apple may be the one that needs most to be concerned with paid subscribers one year hence since a large chunk is presently represented by free subscriptions given out via new device purchases.
Disney has a runway all to itself. Family programming does have a top however. I’m 63 and yet a grandfather so no interest at the moment. Star Wars and Marvel plus Hulu and ESPN+ bundled is a nice package. Great start, but don’t forget many of their subs have come for free via Verizon. They are in for the long haul. The dumbest thing Apple could do would be to buy MGM. Nothing there there…trust me. Sony makes a lot more sense. The game shows alone on Apple TV+ only would drive more subs than any original programs.
Disney+ should buy the DC Universe App content and then Disney+ would really increase their customer base.
It took Netflix 20 years to get where it is with broadly popular original content, but they couldn’t have done it without a library of popular movies available to subscribers first. Apple has the money to take the reverse approach, but will their handful of series be “sticky” enough to meaningfully retain or gain new Apple hardware/services customers? The jury is out but I haven’t seen anything exceptional yet. The biggest problem for me hasn’t been quantity but quantity. Politics aside, I haven’t been able to suspend disbelief to enjoy any series, whether it’s the rather lame See concept or Hailee Steinfeld’s period “comedy”. Delivering 21st century snark in 19th century costumes isn’t funny.
I said a long time ago that Apple should have looked into purchasing Sony and Disney. Imagine the upside for Apple TV+ if Apple owned either or both of those content libraries! Prime opportunities lost…
If you’re not a kid who’s only interested in kids content, Disney+ and Netflix are very different things. Disney+ is all Disney content whereas Netflix has a very diverse library from all over. Aside from kids programming, I think they compliment each other more than compete. A friend of mine thinks he can ditch Netflix and replace it with Disney+ but he doesn’t realize there probably isn’t a whole lot of content on Disney+ that will interest him, vs. all the movies and adult content etc. on Netflix.