Disney bought disruption to the OTT Industry by breaching 73 M Subscribers

Disney+ which has lunched just a year back now it is ready to breach 73.7 million paid subscribers as on early October. Seems it is as per their mission statement, The Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

Disney’s aim at launch was to reach 60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024. The success of Disney+ can largely be attributed to the pandemic keeping people at home. It has been a much needed cash cow for Disney in a year when its theme parks have been haemorrhaging cash.

Even with the disruption caused by Covid-19, we’ve been able to effectively manage our businesses while also taking bold, deliberate steps to position our company for greater long-term growth,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company.

The release also includes subscriber numbers for Disney’s other streaming services - Hulu had 36.6 million (including 4.1 million subscribers to Hulu + Live TV), while ESPN had 10.3 million (more than doubling from 3.5 million a year earlier). The improvement at Hulu was due to subscriber growth and increased advertising revenues driven by higher impressions, partially offset by an increase in programming and production costs due to higher subscriber-based fees for programming the live television service.

As per the report, Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment saw revenue growth of 41% year-over-year to $4.9 billion, while its operating loss fell from $751 million in Q4 2019 to $580 million this year. Disney+ is available on the web, iOS, Android, Roku, various smart TVs and game consoles - and, as just announced last week, Amazon Fire TV, all for a monthly price of $6.99.