Mike Peterson
Disney+ had 103.6 million paid subscribers as of April 3, 2021, missing Wall Street growth expectations for the first quarter.
The service added 8.7 million global subscribers to its count in the first three months of 2021, Disney reported in a quarterly earnings update on Thursday. Previously, Disney+ reported that it had 94.9 million subscribers at the start of 2021. At its annual shareholders meeting, the company boasted that it had topped 100 million subscribers.
Prior to the company's first quarter earnings report, analysts had predicted the service coming in at 109.3 million subscribers, Variety reported.
The slower-than-expected growth during the quarter came after the first price hike for Disney+. In the U.S., the service bumped its monthly price tag a dollar higher to $7.99.
Additionally, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber also dropped in the first quarter to $3.99, down 29% year-over-year. Disney noted that its global numbers include Disney+ Hotstar, which is available in some markets and has a lower average revenue per user.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he expects subscriber growth to pick up against as the pandemic subsides and movie and TV production returns to normal, which will allow new content to come to the platform.
Throughout 2020, Disney+ saw exceptional growth, adding 16.5 million customers in just 10 days at one point during the pandemic. In the midst of coronavirus restrictions, the company also restructured its business to focus on online streaming.
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13 Comments
I thought after 3 to 6 months I'd have seen everything I wanted to see, and then cancel, but I don't feel like I've seen it all yet. Curiously, since I'm outside of the US, Disney+ includes "Star" which has lots of good programs. But I don't get HULU included in Disney+ since I'm outside the US. Based on what I've seen, Star is actually better than Hulu, so this is one of the rare times Canada gets a better deal than the US. Yay us, boo US.
Disney did a great job by acquire all those catalogs.
“ The service added 8.7 million global subscribers to its count in the first three months of 2021”
“ The slower-than-expected growth during the quarter came after the first price hike for Disney+. In the U.S., the service bumped its monthly price tag a dollar higher to $7.99.”
These two statements contradict each other because the price hike actually came during the last week of March (i.e. the very end of the first three months). That should have motivated subscribers to get in front of the increase. The fact that it didn’t proves that it’s a bullshit excuse to blame the low numbers on. The firing of Gina Carano probably played a lot bigger role here than many people want to admit.
Not surprised at all, shows are horrible on there except for Mandalorian, and even that is 26 minute episodes which is stupid .now they have a show with John stamos coaching high school girls……
Apple programming is so much better