Disney Plus is an over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platform which was launched on November 12th, 2019. The launch got a lot of media attention and Disney plus ended up getting ten million subscribers in the first few days of operation. The company had initially hoped to achieve 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024. But as of August 4th 2020, it has more than 60.5 million paying subscribers. Nobody would have projected 8 months back that Disney Plus will reach so many subscribers in such a short time.
The company had already reached a milestone of 50 million subscribers in April. The pandemic then accelerated the growth of subscribers for all the OTT platforms. Netflix has added 10 million subscribers in recent months which takes their tally to a total of 193 million global subscribers. The same is true for Disney’s other streaming services like ESPN Plus which now has 8.5 million subscribers while HULU has a total of 35.5 million subscribers globally. All streaming services have gained from the pandemic as people have looked for various outlets for depression and insecurity that have plagued the world for over 6 months now.
The CEO of Walt Disney Bob Chapek has come out triumphantly remarking that the direct to consumer services for the company now exceeds 100 million paid subscribers. This for him has reaffirmed his faith in direct to consumer strategy which he sees as the future. Disney has seen a 2 percent increase in its profits for direct to consumer business which has taken its revenue to $4 billion. Although all is not well for the company, since its streaming business is only one of the few things that are going well for them. Its other businesses are not doing well and are either paused or slowed due to the pandemic. The company has registered a 42 percent fall in its revenue last year.
The earlier two quarters of 2020 have been really good for the OTT streaming sites. Most have added millions of new paying subscribers which has made online streaming services as one of the most profitable businesses in this pandemic. The growth of the online streaming business is likely to continue as we enter a new era of online entertainment. Netflix is still the king. But with Disney growing so much in just 8 months it is very well set to rival Netflix. Whether Disney will ever be able to dethrone Netflix or not, the next two-three years might give us the answer. It is going to be an interesting battle which will be great for the customers as more competition will mean better content for the viewers.
Source :- https://my-blogsearch.uk.com/disney-now-has-more-than-60-5-million-paying-subscribers/
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