Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Disney Plus - statistics & facts
On November 12, 2019, The Walt Disney Company launched streaming service Disney+ to consumers in North America and the Netherlands after months of online buzz and anticipation. Knowing that Disney ranks among the world’s largest media and entertainment companies and remains one of the most beloved film studios of all time, analysts quickly began predicting how Disney+ would disrupt the market. After only a few years in the business, the media conglomerate continues to carve out larger slices of the global streaming pie each year. However, due to more and more companies entering the streaming market in recent years, Disney can no longer only rely on subscribers, and announced several cost-cutting measures to reach profitability for direct-to-consumer business. In late 2022, for example, the company launched an ad-supported tier for Disney+, and indeed, a forecast shows that the platform will likely reach over 205 million customers of its ad-supported subscription tier by 2028.
Disney+ subscribers and competitors: can the house of mouse compete?
The number of Disney+ subscribers has grown rapidly in the few years following the platform’s launch. While the service was initially only available in a handful of markets, it has since expanded to over 60 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, leading viewer counts to skyrocket. As of late 2022, roughly 164 million viewers subscribed to the platform, which is even more impressive, considering that the company had initially hoped to reach 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024. In contrast, despite Netflix remaining by far the largest SVOD provider globally, it took the streamer almost a decade to achieve similar figures despite navigating a much quieter market with limited competition. Today, the number of Netflix subscribers stands at over 230 million after receiving a significant boost amidst the pandemic, and although Netflix also reported considerable losses in its subscriber base in 2022, the streaming giant seems to be recovered. Meanwhile, the total number of Disney+ subscribers declined to around 147 million as of the third fiscal quarter of 2023 as especially the Indian brand Disney+ Hotstar reported churn recently. Another viable competitor in the global streaming race is Amazon Prime Video. Amazon’s flagship streaming service had the broadest content portfolio and reported some of the highest programming expenses in the world in 2021.What types of content can viewers expect on Disney+?
Compared to more established streaming heavyweights, Disney+ still offers a rather limited content catalog on its platform. There were an estimated 1,900 movies and TV shows available on Disney+ in the U.S., while Prime Video users could choose from over seven thousand distinct titles. In addition to its library of non-Disney programming, Disney+ primarily features content produced by The Walt Disney Studios and its various subsidiaries, including Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Pixar, and Marvel Entertainment. Hollywood blockbusters such as the Marvel franchise generate billions of U.S. dollars at the global box office, and their exclusive availability on Disney+ helps draw millions of viewers to the platform. On top of that, Disney+ belongs to the streaming services with the most in-demand original series releases worldwide in 2022, with productions such as “Moon Knight” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The media conglomerate is known to invest heavily in its content portfolio. But although Disney initially planned to save three billion U.S. dollars in programming costs due to the restructuring process in order to offset churn and operating losses, the streaming provider will not stop to release further highly anticipated movies and TV shows to strive for streaming excellence and dominance.
