Disney Plus Passes 118 Million Subscribers

Disney's entry into the crowded streaming market two years ago has been a success pretty much from the beginning. In advance of a Q4 earnings call, the massive entertainment company has released numbers showing how Disney+ has measured up against stiff competition from Netflix, HBO Max, and others.

In a company report, Disney has revealed that Disney+ has marked a 60% subscriber growth since October 2020 to a total of 118.1 subscribers--this time last year, that total was at 70 million subscribers. "We're extremely pleased with the success of our streaming business," said Disney CEO Bob Chapek in the report. "We are confident that our high-quality entertainment and expansion into additional markets worldwide will enable us to further grow our streaming platforms globally." Note that at the close of the second fiscal quarter of 2021, which ended April 3, Disney announced that its streaming service had amassed 103 million paid subscribers in total.

The Disney-owned Hulu grew 22% between October 3, 2020 and October 2, 2021. Hulu now sits at 72.6 million subscribers for the streaming service. The Hulu + Live TV dropped from 4.1 to 4 million across that same amount of time, which is a 20 percent fall. Some of this can likely be explained by the fact that the service raised its prices back in November last year.

While Disney+ grew in paid subscribers, its average monthly revenue decreased from $4.52 to $4.12. This is being attributed to Disney+ Hostar's launch, as the average monthly revenue per subscriber is "significantly lower." On a Q4 earnings call, several Disney+ executives stressed platform-wide goals to double the number of territories the service will be available in by fiscal year 2023--and underlined the expansive amount of content currently in development.

As soon as November 12, there will be a ton of new offerings rolling out there for Disney+ Day. For a full rundown of everything coming to Disney+ later this week, including Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and 13 Marvel movies getting an IMAX Expanded Aspect Ratio format visual upgrade, check out our rundown here.