Disney+ Already Has Over 26 Million Subscribers
- Paul Thurrott
- Feb 05, 2020
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7
Disney’s new video streaming service, Disney+, is off to a much faster start than anyone thought possible. Including Disney.
The figure came as part of Disney’s quarterly financial results, in which the firm announced that it earned $2.1 billion in net income on revenues of $20.9 billion, the latter of which is a 36 percent improvement over the same quarter a year ago.
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“We had a strong first quarter, highlighted by the launch of Disney+, which has exceeded even our greatest expectations,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a prepared statement. “Thanks to our incredible collection of brands, outstanding content from our creative engines and state-of-the-art technology, we believe our direct-to-consumer services, including Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, position us well for continued growth in today’s dynamic media environment.”
Iger also noted in a post-earnings conference call that the Disney+ figure is from the previous quarter only and that the subscription base has continued to grow since then. Previously, Disney had noted that 10 million subscribers signed up for the service when it first launched in November.
Hulu, another Disney video streaming service, is also doing well: It had 30.4 million paying subscribers by the end of the previous quarter, a jump of 33 percent YOY. It is up to 30.7 million subscribers now, Disney added. And ESPN+ subscribers more than quadrupled to 6.6 million during the quarter, up from 1.4 million a year ago. (ESPN+ hit 7.6 million subscribers this week, Disney added.)
Of course, all of these services have a long way to go before they can seriously threaten the market leader. Netflix had over 167 million subscribers as of the end of 2019.