Disney+ Passes 70 Million Subscribers

Disney's entry into the crowded streaming market, Disney+, has revealed its current subscriber numbers, and they're massive. The service has succeeded despite stiff competition from Netflix, HBO Max, and others.

"I'm pleased to report that as of the end of the fourth quarter Disney plus had more than 73 million paid subscribers, far surpassing our expectations in just its first year," said Disney CEO Bob Chapek in a Q4 earnings call. "We're continuing to see positive trends. The growth of Disney plus speaks volumes about the strength of our IP, our unparalleled franchises and amazing content creators, all part of the Disney difference that sets us apart from everyone else. When you look across our full suite of streaming service, we have exceeded 120 million paid subscriptions worldwide."

The full suite Chapek mentions there includes NHL.TV as well as Disney+, Hulu, ESPN (also known as the Disney Bundle). The 73 million number Chapek quotes is from just over a year of service. While Disney+ has a massive back catalog of Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, and National Geographic shows and films, though, it hasn't had much in the way of content. The biggest things on the service are wo seasons of The Mandalorian and Hamilton, though other shows like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (that's the real name) and the final season of Star Wars: Clone Wars have done well, too. The other big ticket item was the live-action Mulan movie, and that costs an extra fee on top of the subscription cost.

Read more: Disney Plus Price and How To Sign Up

This all makes that 73-million-subscriber number all the more impressive. For comparison, Netflix has 183 million subscribers as of April 2020. Hulu, meanwhile, ended its fourth quarter with 36.6 million subscribers.

In terms of upcoming content, Disney has its next Pixar film, Soul, coming in time for Christmas. Disney also announced this week that WandaVision will hit Disney+ in 2021. That makes 2020 the first MCU-free year in a long time--unless Disney suddenly decides to drop Black Widow onto the service. Otherwise, Disney's promised glut of Marvel shows has yet to materialize due to COVID-19-related delays. Once shows like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier hit the service, these numbers will almost certainly climb even higher.