Much to Like with Disney+’s 10 Million+

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

November 14, 2019

The Walt Disney Company’s stock price took a nice jump up after the company announced yesterday that their Disney+ streaming service passed 10 million subscribers. That announcement, of course, came only one day after the service went live.

Of course, that wasn’t a one-day sign up, as you could pre-order Disney+ for several weeks. Nonetheless, that was an impressive feat, especially given that the company has projected 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024, with about a third coming from the U.S.

CNBC offered a handy comparison with other streaming services:

• Netflix (introduced streaming in 2007): 158 million subscribers, 60.6 million U.S. subscribers (as of October).
• Hulu (began streaming in 2007): 28.5 million U.S. subscribers (as of November).
• HBO (founded in 1972, began streaming outside pay-TV bundle in 2015): 34 million U.S. subscribers, 8 million HBO Now subscribers (as of October)
• CBS All Access and Showtime (began streaming in 2014): 8 million subscribers (as of February)
• ESPN+ (began streaming in 2018): 3.5 million subscribers (as of November)
• DAZN (began streaming in 2016): More than 4 million global subscribers (as of May)
• Crunchyroll (began streaming in 2006): More than 2 million global subscribers (as of November)
• Amazon doesn’t disclose the number of Amazon Prime Video users. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated there were 100 million Prime subscribers in January, but those subscribers get many other benefits, including free one-day shipping.

When you look at those numbers, it’s noteworthy that Disney+ was ahead of HBO Now, BCS All Access and Showtime, DAZN, and Crunchy Roll – after going live for only one day.

Right now, Disney+ is live in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands, with Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico coming online on November 19, and Western Europe scheduled for the end of March 2020. I don’t expect that Disney+ will have to wait until 2024 to hit 60 million subscribers.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.