DisneyPlus

Disney+ Nears 74 Million Subscribers

One year ago today Disney+ was launched. Today, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced that Disney’s streaming service has grown to nearly 74 million subscribers. The news came via an earnings call from Disney. The exceptional growth for Disney+ is a bright spot for the company that has been hit hard in its theme parks and cruising businesses because of COVID-19.

According to the report on the call, Disney+ has now garnered 73.7 million subscribers as of October 3, 2020. This number is up approximately 60 million subscribers from three months ago. At this time, ESPN+ has 10.3 million subscribers and Hulu is at 36.6 million subscribers.

“One year ago today we launched Disney+, and it has quickly exceeded our highest expectations,” Chapek said on the earnings call with analysts.

Currently, Netflix remains the streaming leader. It has 195 million global subscribers. Another competitor HBO Max has 8.6 million subscribers since it went live in May. NBC Universal’s streaming service, Peacock, has 22 million subscribers.

The news of Disney+’s new subscriber count came on an earnings call that, while not bright, was not nearly as dark as was expected by analysts. In fact, Disney’s fourth-quarter earnings report significantly beat analysts’ expectations. Because of this, Disney shares jumped 6% in after-hours trading after hearing the news.

 


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