Disney Plus exceeds expectations in first year with 73.7 million subscribers

It’s been exactly a year since Disney + launched and the streaming service has far exceeded expectations.

Disney announced Thursday that its platform surpassed 73.7 million subscribers. This is remarkable growth given Disney’s goal, when it launched, of reaching 60 to 90 million subscriptions by 2024.

Barely a year later, Disney + is quickly taking a seat on Netflix, which reported more than 195 million subscribers in its final quarter. Disney also joined the streaming wars around the same time as Apple and a few months before Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Apple has yet to release subscription numbers for Apple TV +. NBCUniversal’s Peacock reported nearly 22 million signups in October, up 12 million from his July report.

It’s worth noting that some of these subscribers came to the service through bundles or one-off promotions, but Disney is not dividing those numbers. Still, subscribers flocked to Disney from the start: 10 million people signed up on day one. In its first quarter of operation, the service achieved 26.5 million subscribers.

And it only skyrocketed from there, as the Covid-19 pandemic kept viewers inside – Disney + went from 33.5 million second quarter subscribers to 57.5 million. Million in the third quarter.

The company had doubts: Some analysts predicted before launch that the service would not even reach 20 million subscribers by the end of 2020. But analysts have largely and quickly changed their minds since the service launched. .

Morgan Stanley on Thursday morning raised its streaming subscription estimates to 230 million by the end of 2025, and analysts at MoffettNathanson in October raised their forecast to nearly 160 million subscribers worldwide. ‘by 2024.

“We expect Disney to lean more into streaming, which means higher spend and more original content that travels faster to its DTC platforms,” ​​Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne said. in a note to investors on Thursday.

The high number of subscribers comes as Disney pushes hard in its streaming service. In October, the company announced that it was restructuring its media and entertainment divisions, centralizing its media activities into a single organization that will be responsible for content distribution, ad sales and Disney +.

“We’re tilting the scales quite dramatically [toward streaming]Disney CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC at the time.

Disney’s next step? Prove to investors that it can retain and attract subscribers.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC.

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