AppleInsider Staff
Disney's new video streaming service, Disney+, now boasts more than 28 million paying subscribers after launching against market competitor Apple TV+ in November, the company revealed on Tuesday.
The figure was officially reported in Disney's quarterly earnings report as 26.5 million subscribers at the end of December, but CEO Bob Iger in an earnings conference call after the bell said the service hit 28.6 million as of Monday, according to The Verge.
Disney has leaned heavily on promotions to help push subscriber numbers, presenting new users with deals on annual subscriptions during the holiday shopping season, providing discounts for multi-year obligations and offering a year of free service to select Verizon customers. Apple, too, is dishing out free access to its streaming product, Apple TV+, to new iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and iPod touch owners.
Disney also notched increased subscriber numbers for Hulu and ESPN+, which jumped to 30.4 million and 6.6 million subscribers at the end of December, respectively. Those gains are in large part thanks to deal that bundled Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for a monthly fee of $12.99, according to the report.
After a successful domestic launch, the entertainment giant is looking to fuel growth through international expansion. Disney plans to debut the service across Europe in March followed by a rolling global launch throughout 2020.
The news arrives a week after Apple conspicuously failed to mention Apple TV+ subscriber numbers in an earnings report for its first fiscal quarter of 2020. Apple CEO Tim Cook in a conference call last Tuesday had little to say about the service beyond noting it is off to a "rousing start," a vague metric he later clarified to be based on total subscribers.
Disney+ launched in November with a mountain of content, including access to Disney, Pixar, Marvel Universe, Star Wars and National Geographic movies and shows, as well as hotly anticipated originals like "The Mandalorian." The service notched more than 10 million subscribers in one day.
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Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Amber Neely
25 Comments
I’ve been enjoying Disney+. Took advantage of the D23 offer and signed up for the 3 year plan. Honestly, I don’t know why people are surprised that one of their largest names in entertainment is succeeding with a new streaming service.
I have a free 1 year with Verizon. I watched the Mandelorian--it's average, at best and half of the new Aladdin. It's 99.9% re-runs for me. Won't be renewing my subscription. I've watched 5 shows from AppleTV+ and I pay for it monthly. Definitely renewing.
Apple not reporting their numbers is telling. It’s going to a long time before Apple TV is profitable. Fortunately for Apple they have deep pockets.
Still Apple should have bought someone with content...
The problem with Disney+ is that the shows are not sustainable for a long term. They need to add more interesting new shows and do it more regularly. All their older collections are nice but I have watched them in cinema and like most people, I am not in habit of watching same movies over and over. This is why I am stopping my subscription for now as I hit the point where there are nothing else to watch in Disney+.
Netflix has more diverse collections but they also add a lot of new ones every month (mix qualities) or Apple+ which only offers high quality production originals but add them regularly.
I guess it comes down to personal taste: do you like to watch your fav movie, the same movie, over and over OR do you like to watch interesting NEW shows every time you sit down?