Approximately one year ago, in November, the so-called “streaming wars” started heating up when the Walt Disney Corporation launched Disney Plus. Complete with a bundle that included Hulu and ESPN+, the streaming service offered a massive catalog of family friendly programing under the Disney umbrella: Star Wars, Marvel movies, Hamilton, The Simpsons, National Geographic, Pixar, and plethora of original series like The Mandalorian.
10 million people signed up on the very first day of Disney Plus, quickly making it formidable competitor to Netflix‘s proverbial throne as the streaming king. Other streaming platforms quickly followed suit, including AT&T / Warner Media’s HBO Max and Comcast’s Peacock Network. While some were skeptical about the service at launch – citing consumer subscription burn out – Disney Plus quickly became a part of a family’s streaming diet during a pandemic, when there wasn’t much else going on.
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During an earnings call this past week, Disney announced that the platform has now surpassed 73 million subscribers. That’s an incredible milestone for the service, especially considering that Disney CEO Bob Iger initially projected 60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024 last year before launch.
According to the Mouse House, Disney Plus subscriber base grew significantly this year with people staying in due to COVID-19. In the second quarter of this year, the service boasted 33.5 million subscribers. It then added over 20 million subscribers, to 57.5 million, by the third quarter.
Now, reporting for the third quarter, Disney Plus has added 73 million subscribers. ESPN Plus is reporting 10 million subscribers.
According to CNBC, Morgan Stanley is estimating over 230 million worldwide subscribers for the service by the end of 2025. Analysts at MoffettNathanson also upped their forecast for subscribers in October to nearly 160 million.
Meanwhile, Disney Plus’s slate continues to get more and more exciting for consumers: WandaVision is slated to hit the streaming service on Friday, January 15 and a Boba Fett mini series is currently in the works.
The platform continues to diversify it’s programming outside these tentpoles too, dropping a trailer for Safety, the inspiring true story about former Clemson University safety Ray McElrathbey. Safety is set to drop on December 11.
Millennials will also be thrilled to hear that studio is also planning a Darkwing Duck Reboot, with Seth Rogen producing.
WATCH DISNEY+ HERE
Safety | Official Trailer | Disney+
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