Very quickly, Disney may have become the dominant force in the video streaming world. About six months after the company announced it had more than 100 million video subscribers, Disney revealed that it’s almost as much on Disney +. In today’s earnings report covering the last quarter of 2020, Disney announced that it now has 94.9 million Disney + subscribers, 39.4 million Hulu subscribers and 12.1 million ESPN + subscribers. In total, Disney said up to 146 million video subscribers, with Disney + a power to reckon with.
Since Disney + was just launched in December 2019, the comparison of the year-to-year number of subscribers is not very useful, but the fact that it picked up almost 100 million users within the span of a year is extremely impressive. However, the average monthly revenue per subscriber has dropped significantly, from $ 5.56 a year ago to just $ 4.04 – this is largely due to Disney + Hotstar, the name of the service in India and Indonesia. In those countries, the monthly charge for Disney + is significantly lower than elsewhere. However, we bet Disney is good with the compromise.
While Disney + is by far the company’s largest streaming service, Hulu and ESPN + were also highlights. The 12.1 million ESPN + subscribers represent a year-over-year growth of 83 percent. And Hulu grew by 30 percent year-on-year to 39.4 million subscribers. However, Hulu’s live TV product represents only 4 million users – but it’s still up 25 percent from a year ago. Although live TV subscribers are not growing as fast as those for the on-demand service, they are not exactly dead in the water yet.
Streaming video was a bright spot for Disney in a difficult year in which it got hit by the closure of businesses such as theme parks and cruises, thanks to COVID-19. Theater movie presentations were also so badly hit, but at least the company has many loyal fans watching at home to help increase the numbers of video subscribers.