Disney Plus
- Disney Plus has more than 100 million subscribers around the world.
- CEO, Bob Chapek, on Tuesday said Disney wants to add more than 100 titles to the service each year.
- Disney Plus took 16 months to surpass 100 million sign-ups – it took Netflix 10 years.
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Disney's CEO, Bob Chapek, on Tuesday revealed that its flagship streaming service, Disney Plus, has reached more than 100 million global subscribers 16 months after launching.
"The enormous success of Disney Plus, which has surpassed 100 million subscribers, has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content," Chapek said in a statement.
Disney aims to add more than 100 new titles to the service each year, Chapek added.
Chapek didn't say what accelerated the sing-ups to Disney Plus, but the popularity of two seasons of the "Star Wars" spinoff "The Mandalorian," the Marvel show "WandaVision," and a new film, "Raya and the Last Dragon" boosted subscriptions, according to reports from Nielsen, per CNBC.
Disney Plus also launched Star, a new entertainment brand for adults, in non-US markets at the end of February. The streaming service has benefitted from people staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The world's biggest entertainment company last reported in its first-quarter earnings that Disney Plus had nearly 95 million global subscribers in January 2021. The service gained 21.2 million sign-ups, hitting 94.4 million subscribers at the start of the year.
Disney initially projected to have 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024 but this prediction was surpassed in November. A company spokesperson told Insider on February 25 that it expects Disney Plus to hit 300 million to 350 million total subscriptions by 2024.
There's no doubt Disney Plus is creeping up behind Netflix, which reported more than 200 million subscribers in the fourth quarter. It took Netflix ten years to accumulate 100 million subscribers after launching in 2007, whereas Disney Plus took less than a year and a half.
Overall, Disney's streaming service gained 70 million subscribers in 2020, while Netflix accumulated 37 million.
The entertainment company launched Disney Plus first in the US in November 2019, and later rolled it out in 59 countries including Europe, Latin America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently, Singapore.