The Walt Disney Company announced that it had earned itself 50 million paid subscribers in its first five months.
Disney+ rolled out recently in both the UK and India (although it is still not technically available in the UAE). According to the company, more than eight million subscribers have come from India, where the service has been offered along with existing Hotstar service.
“We’re truly humbled that Disney+ is resonating with millions around the globe, and believe this bodes well for our continued expansion throughout Western Europe and into Japan and all of Latin America later this year,” direct-to-consumer and international chairman Kevin Mayer said in a release.
Last month, Disney+ launched in seven European countries but then had to reduce bandwidth due to the heavy demand on internet services due to the coronavirus.
With more than 3.5 billion people around the world self-isolating in a bid to curb the outbreak, it’s no surprise that streaming services have seen a huge boon in popularity.
It helped that Disney+ is keeping its rates low. Currently, the service costs US$7 per month (versus US$10 per month for services such as Netflix).It aims to compete with Netflix, Apple and Amazon by leveraging its huge catalogue of Disney animated classics along with its Pixar, Marvel and National Geographic movies — not to mention its wildly successful “Star Wars” franchise.
Leading television streaming service Netflix reported having 167 million subscribers in a quarterly earnings report early this year.
Esquire now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit ‘Like’ on our Esquire Facebook page and ‘Follow’ on our @esquiremiddleeast Instagram and Twitter account.
