Disney+ Passes 60.5 Million Subs, Reaches 5-Year Streaming Goal In First Eight Months (deadline.com) 49
In Disney's earnings call today, CEO Bob Chapek said there are now 60.5 million global subscribers to Disney+, reaching the 60 million-90 million range it told investors it would get to by 2024. Deadline reports: He also said today that Mulan, long in limbo amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will debut September 24 on Disney+ for $24.99, a new wrinkle for the streamer. Disney also announced it will launch a new streaming service internationally under its Star brand and using Disney's own content, starting in September. After rising from 54.5 million subscribers as of the beginning of May, Disney+ reached 57.5 million subscribers by the end of June before surpassing the 60M mark in the last couple of days.
The overall results came up short of Wall Street analysts' expectations of a loss of 64 cents per share and total revenue of $12.4 billion. Disney has already reached its five-year target for Disney+ global subscribers less than nine months after launching the $7-a-month service. While it is a far more targeted offering than Amazon Prime Video or Hulu, it has quickly vaulted into the No. 2 spot in the subscription streaming game after Netflix, which has nearly 193 million global subscribers. When the company reported its last batch of quarterly results in May, Disney said it had 54.5 million Disney+ subscribers, up from 33.5 million as of March 28. Hulu, which Disney has controlled since the spring of 2019, had 32.1 million total subscribers at the end of the March quarter. Hulu, the company said in its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, now has 35.5 million subscribers to its on-demand service and live TV bundle combined, while ESPN+ is now at 8.5 million, more than triple its level a year ago.
The overall results came up short of Wall Street analysts' expectations of a loss of 64 cents per share and total revenue of $12.4 billion. Disney has already reached its five-year target for Disney+ global subscribers less than nine months after launching the $7-a-month service. While it is a far more targeted offering than Amazon Prime Video or Hulu, it has quickly vaulted into the No. 2 spot in the subscription streaming game after Netflix, which has nearly 193 million global subscribers. When the company reported its last batch of quarterly results in May, Disney said it had 54.5 million Disney+ subscribers, up from 33.5 million as of March 28. Hulu, which Disney has controlled since the spring of 2019, had 32.1 million total subscribers at the end of the March quarter. Hulu, the company said in its fiscal third-quarter earnings report, now has 35.5 million subscribers to its on-demand service and live TV bundle combined, while ESPN+ is now at 8.5 million, more than triple its level a year ago.
Disney has done a pretty good job with new content (Score:2)
I subscribed to Disney+ from launch, they have done a pretty good job adding interesting things in a pretty constant flow (though obviously the interestingness is weighted towards those interested in Disney stuff - though not all).
Combined with the level of interest in Marvel and Star Wars content a lot of people have, I can see where even without Covid they would already be at pretty high numbers.
It will be interesting to see how the premium Mulan offering fares, it's kind of expensive but not really compa
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It will be interesting to see how the premium Mulan offering fares, it's kind of expensive but not really compared to a family going to the theater... also not stated (that I could find), can you watch that any time after or is it only something like a 2-day window to watch?
I was going to ask, "Why would anyone pay even more just to watch some Mulan crap?"
But then I remembered all the people that shell out money to watch sports, so... Yeah maybe people will.
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Sometimes it is just insiders, so. Disney is the kids channel, the shut down is driving a lot of interest but those kids are burning through that content. I'll be subscriber numbers start dropping in the not too distant future. Without kids, the Disney channel content sucks, good for maybe one month every couple of years, a small amount of good stuff and then a whole bunch of real cookie cutter kids cartoons, watched one series and you have watched the hundreds of others on offer.
I wonder how their subscrip
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Disney is the kids channel, the shut down is driving a lot of interest but those kids are burning through that content. I'll be subscriber numbers start dropping in the not too distant future.
Have you seen kids? They will happily watch the same thing over and over and over and over again.
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Disney is the kids channel, the shut down is driving a lot of interest but those kids are burning through that content. I'll be subscriber numbers start dropping in the not too distant future.
Have you seen kids? They will happily watch the same thing over and over and over and over again.
Can confirm; I was one of those once. Watched several disney tapes so frequently that they degraded pretty severely by the time I was outgrowing that phase, so I suppose I was quite literally burning through content.
Watched Hamilton twice (Score:2)
Only found 5 other things in entire collection id watch. two of them were on other services. And the others' were not really interesting.
But hamilton was definitely worth 1 month subscription.
Things to watch (Score:2)
You already mentioned Hamilton but here are some other good things on the service:
Pixar shorts are pretty good.
Pixar in Real life is a fun short series.
Day in imagineering (might have got the name wrong) is very interesting.
Solo is a great Star Wars movie if you've not seen it, got a bad wrap and was released way to soon to the main Star Wars movie at the time.
Mandalorian... even if (especially if?) you are not that into Star Wars.
Muppets Now is pretty fun.
Togo (way better job done on this than the Into the
Mulan... (Score:2)
... They should had done Black Widow instead. That would be a big seller for those who must see it right away. I don't think Mulan will be that popular.
Should have done both... (Score:1)
They should had done Black Widow instead. That would be a big seller for those who must see it right away.
I totally agree, but without the instead... I don't think the two have very overlapping audiences and as you say they would have had a TON of people pay to watch Black Widow this year.
I don't think Mulan will be that popular.
That has huge family interest, from a lot of families I know... and families are even more likely to pay the somewhat steep price, because for them it's way cheaper and easier than
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I think people will have higher expectations of streaming, e.g. the ability to stop it and come back to it, to watch it twice within the rental period etc.
It makes a lot of sense for kids movies though. Takes the pressure off the parents as they don't make the worry about the kids misbehaving in the cinema. Cheaper too.
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also not stated (that I could find), can you watch that any time after or is it only something like a 2-day window to watch?
You get to watch it for as long as you subscribe. From https://www.theverge.com/2020/... [theverge.com]
The $30 acts as a purchase — as long as people subscribe to Disney Plus, they’ll be able to access the film.
So...it behaves sort of like a purchase...you can watch it as much as you want as often as you want for as long as you keep paying for the Disney Plus subscription. Yeah, this isn't really a purchase...you can't resell it and you have to keep subscribing to keep watching... but it doesn't have a definite time limit
So, depending on your perspective it's not a bad deal. Movie tickets for a family of 4 would be $30+ by th
Great idea from Disney, very beneficial (Score:1)
You get to watch it for as long as you subscribe.
I just read that this morning also.
It has several interlocking effects that make this a great idea:
1) Without a time limit people are way more more likely to impulse purchase as they can watch any time later that works for them.
2) The cost doesn't seem so high when you sort of own it "forever" (see next point).
3) The genius part is that once you "own" this movie you'll be less likely to drop your subscription in order to keep the sunk cost of the movie you "
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The genius part is that once you "own" this movie you'll be less likely to drop your subscription in order to keep the sunk cost of the movie you "bought" alive!
That seems unlikely. Mulan will almost certainly be added to the standard catalog within the next twelve months, rather than being a premium product forever.
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Mulan will almost certainly be added to the standard catalog within the next twelve months
Good point, I agree that seems likely - so it would be a short lived benefit, but still something of a potential benefit for reducing churn until then.
Smoke and mirrors (Score:2)
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I can say with almost certainty that you are right. If Disney were to release the number of subscriptions through the redemption of voucher codes I think you'd find it's a majority portion of those numbers.
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We were offered a one year free sub with a new iPhone. If they are doing the same world wide, then that could account for the majority of the subscriptions.
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Some of the reporting has been saying that these are paid subscriptions, but that may have been an overstatement on their part. One thing we do know from the article is that Disney stopped all promotional offers a few months back, with everyone signing up in June or beyond having to pay full price.
With that in mind, they reported 54.5M subscribers at the start of May, 57.5M at the end of June (+3M in ~2 months), and 60.5M as of now (+3M in ~1 month), which would seemingly suggest that the loss of promo offe
Disney is the worst (Score:3, Insightful)
Of all the major media groups Disney is the worst for creating new and original content. They exemplify the worst of the American film industry. Everything they do is blandly appealing to everyone and not a bit of it is all the great. Don't get me wrong, of the dozens of Marvel movies they managed to create two good ones (the latest Thor movie (at least at parts) and the first Guardians of the Galaxy) but I am just so tired of their constant stream of cinema that feels ultra pasteurized to the sensibilities of a global audience that I just can't take it anymore.
In other words, if you value proper film making you should probably just pirate the very few Disney exclusives that have proper value.
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Of all the major media groups Disney is the worst for creating new and original content. They exemplify the worst of the American film industry. Everything they do is blandly appealing to everyone and not a bit of it is all the great. Don't get me wrong, of the dozens of Marvel movies they managed to create two good ones (the latest Thor movie (at least at parts) and the first Guardians of the Galaxy) but I am just so tired of their constant stream of cinema that feels ultra pasteurized to the sensibilities of a global audience that I just can't take it anymore.
In other words, if you value proper film making you should probably just pirate the very few Disney exclusives that have proper value.
I feel the same way, but instead of complaining about all the terrible movies, I just don't watch them. Also, I'm pretty sure everyone loves all the Marvel crap, as well as the terrible new Star Wars movies, so we're probably in the minority.
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You didn't pass a single moment pleased with any one of the 5 Star Wars movies? You were too busy complaining loudly to hear"Tron: Legacy"? You always knew Angelina Jolie had some impressive talent she was never showi
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I guess I'm confused as to why you read and post here, given that your tastes are so refined. Don't you have something better to read and write? Myself, I like to be entertained, and am actually open to being entertained, rather than apparently being super-busy watching movies I don't like.
I'm not complaining about bad movies, I'm complaining about bland movies. Yeah I was reasonably entertained by many of the marvel movies but I'll probably never watch the vast majority of them a second time. Likewise with the recent Star Wars movies (outside of Rogue One of course).
You were too busy complaining loudly to hear"Tron: Legacy"? You always knew Angelina Jolie had some impressive talent she was never showing, so "Maleficent" was entirely ho-hum? Did you watch "Aladdin" in black-and-white on a standard-def tv? Nobody liked "Ford v Ferrari" I guess, you included? "Queen of Katwe" as another one that left you composing your grocery list while waiting for the credits I suppose?
Well Ford vs. Ferrari was a pretty good flick (and I've never thought Angelina Jolie was an impressive actress)... Furthermore, naming a few properly original flicks (If I was making a list of recent original flicks it'd be a hel
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I am just so tired of their constant stream of cinema that feels ultra pasteurized to the sensibilities of a global audience that I just can't take it anymore.
Pretty sure that most of American cinema has always been 'ultra pasteurized' to the sensibilities of the American audience. The puritanical roots of the country are ever-present and surprisingly pervasive.
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Pasteurizing at a global level is the ultimate blandness because they're trying to appeal to every damn person on the planet. Furthermore, there was a time when Hollywood didn't just spit out bland sequels and adaptations of other mediums work https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0... [nytimes.com] .
That's about it (Score:2)
60 million is the number of kids under 15 in the US.
So many kids, So much isolation (Score:2)
It was a perfect storm for Disney+. Summertime, pandemic...
I've seen all the Marvel and Star Wars movies already. I haven't seen The Mandalorian yet...
I could probably finish up everything I was interested in during a free preview month.
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It's actually darn cheap to watch all Star Wars movies ($7/month compared to $4 to rent a single movie). So, in a way they're canibalizing their own revenue (due to the very low price tag).
Now it kind of makes sense, as a way to get a good launch. And I could be convinced to keep the subscription if the kids watch it on a regular basis.
Let's see how they raise the price as time goes, and how much new content they provide. That will determine how viable this is in the long term.
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I haven't seen The Mandalorian yet...
If you watch that and like it (which very probably you will) they also have a Disney Gallery series of episodes about making the Mandalorian. One near the end about music is especially good.
If you wait until October you could probably watch season one and two on the same subscription.
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We're seeing offers for 6 months free - indeed we're on such a plan right now. We'll be cancelling at the end of it, because the kids are already pretty bored with it.
That said, it's been nice for them to watch a few things that we don't get any other way. Unlike Netflix though, I don't expect Disney are going to crank out new stuff to watch (that's any good) - and we know they can barely make a film unless they bought it in from somewhere else. As such, it's not a long term thing to have Disney+ - use it,
Wow (Score:3)
The Disney princess must be one hell of a Dom if she's got so many subs.
Summary isn't quite accurate.. (Score:2)
They came up light on the top line (revenue)
They beat expectations by a mile on the bottom line (earnings per share)
No thank you. (Score:3)
First, Disney+ is censoring old media, adding CGI to the most basic 'butts' in (I think) the movie splash, a very very innoculous little buttcheek, nope, gotta CGI it out.
Furthermore, I have a PS4 Pro.
Disney are rich, quite rich.
The PS4 is 7 years old, Netflix has been on PS4 for 5+ years and Disney+ has been on the PS4 for what? 8, 9 months?
STILL we're getting weird technical issues (not buffering)
New TV, old movies, doesn't matter there's a stutter bug, where playback basically 'doubles the frame' or pauses for a fraction of a second every 5 to 60 seconds. My bandwidth isn't amazing, but it's more than enough, I can see it's only at 50% utilisation.
It's like 3:2 pulldown (but not) it's annoying, my wife doesn't see it. I saw it in Mandalorian, Pirates, CGI films, doesn't matter - get your tech stuff right.
Subscribed 1 month then unsubscribed (Score:2)
Point being, I won't be surprised if their subscription numbers do an about face.
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Same in my household. Subbed for Hamilton, watched a couple of marvels, then unsubbed.
Verizon (Score:1)
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I honestly can't "figure out" which of your "scare quotes" were the meaningful ones and "which" ones were "just a bonus". Do you suspect that "Verizon" is just an alias?
Also free accounts? (Score:2)
I guess they also counted the people who signed up on the free introductory offer, which kind of inflates the numbers!
be interesting to see if they keep them (Score:2)
Why? I dunno (Score:1)
Active subscribers? (Score:2)
I'll start it back up again when the next season of The Mandalorian hits.
Do they actually have anything good? (Score:2)
I don't think the numbers will last (Score:2)
First of all, Disney is getting a COVID-19 bump, just like Netflix and other services. A year from now, people will be getting out again and won't be constrained to their homes for entertainment.
Second, a lot of people (including my wife) subscribed to Disney+ because of "Hamilton". But unless you're nostalgic about watching a lot of movies that have already come and gone in the theaters, or unless you're fired up about "The Mandalorian" or "Mulan", there's not much new content on the horizon. I expect t
There is no way I'll every susbscribe to Disney (Score:1)