Disney said it had 221.1 million subscribers across its three streaming platforms as of early July. Thus, Disney surpassed Netflix in the number of customers.
This is reported by the BBC.
The company, which also owns television platform Hulu and sports channel ESPN+, said demand for its Disney+ product remains strong. The impetus for such growth was the Covid-19 pandemic, but the easing of quarantine restrictions currently does not prevent streaming platforms from attracting new customers.
Disney+ subscribers grew by 14.4 million in the quarter, far more than analysts expected.
The increase in the number of subscribers cost the company significant costs: the streaming business lost $1.1 billion in the quarter.
Company representatives expect peak losses this year. At the same time, due to the easing of quarantine restrictions, the number of visitors to Disney theme parks has increased. This provided the company with a large financial cushion. The companyʼs total revenue jumped 26% from April to June, compared to 2021, to $1.5 billion.
Disney plans to raise the fee for the ad-free service to $10.99 a month this year, but executives donʼt expect the price hike to turn away customers in the long term.
- In the last quarter, the streaming service Netflix lost almost a million accounts, and the total number of subscribers is now 220.67 million.