Disney+ hits 28.6m subscribers 3 months after launch

05 Feb 2020 | Rasmus Larsen |

As expected, Disney+ is a huge success. The company has confirmed that the streaming service has hit 28.6 million subscribers 3 months after launch.

Disney+ off to a great start
Disney+ attracted 10 million subscribers on launch day and reached 26.5 million by the end of 2019, according to its financial report. Disney CEO Bob Iger added that it hit 28.6 million as of Monday this week.

- "We had a strong first quarter, highlighted by the launch of Disney+, which has exceeded even our greatest expectations," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company. "Thanks to our incredible collection of brands, outstanding content from our creative engines and state-of-the-art technology, we believe our direct-to-consumer services, including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, position us well for continued growth in today’s dynamic media environment."

Disney's 28.6 million subscribers compares to Netflix's more than 167 million subscribers worldwide. However, Disney+ is only available in a handful of countries. It will launch in India and multiple European countries between spring and summer time this year before expanding further into European (Eastern part) and Latin America in late 2020. So far, the launch of Disney+ has not affected Netflix much as Netflix's wild growth continued in Q4 2019.

We still do not know how this compares to Apple TV+. During its earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple TV+ is a "rousing success" but refraining from providing hard numbers. Last month, one analyst estimated that Apple TV+ had 33.6 million US subscribers compared to 23.2 million for Disney+.

Also read: What is Disney+? Everything you need to know

Either way, Disney+ is a huge succes and it has already - after 3 months - surpassed HBO Now in the US. Next step is to expand availability and bring fresh content to the service. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere in August 2020 and the second season of The Mandalorian will be released in October 2020.

- Source: Disney