The streaming war: Disney for the first time surpasses Netflix in number of subscribers

The Walt Disney Company announced today adds 221.1 million subscribers to its streaming platforms around the worldbeating Netflix for the first time, which has 220.6 million subscribers to its service.

However, Netflix’s position as a leading platform is not in jeopardy, as the Disney factory distributes its offering among several brands: the international Disney + (152.1 million), the American Hulu (46.2 million) and ESPN + sport (22.8 million).

Even so, Disney’s growth in the streaming market contrasts with the situation of its main competitor: Netflix drags down two quarters with a loss of customers and measures such as charging extra for sharing accounts or introducing advertising into the cheapest subscription are being considered.

In contrast, Disney added 14.4 million subscribers in the last quarter, 45% more than Wall Street expected. The company’s goal is to reach 260 million in 2024, but specialists have already warned that it will be difficult as they will lose the broadcasting rights to the popular cricket matches in India.

For its part, Disney is no stranger to the profitability problems that paid audiovisual platforms are experiencing in an increasingly saturated market: its three services recorded weak results in the last quarter, mainly due to higher programming costs and production, and left a combined loss of $ 1,100 million.

Therefore, the company has foreseen it on December 8 it will apply a new pricing structure to make the business profitable of “streaming,” which will make current plans more expensive, includes cheaper options with advertising, and offers new packages.

The plan is to increase the ad-free subscription by three dollars (from $ 8 to $ 11) and leave the ad-supported subscription at $ 8 per month. For reference, Netflix charges $ 15.49 for a standard subscription in the US.

Two years of Disney +

Since Disney + was launched just two years ago, Hollywood’s largest commercial conglomerate has focused its strategy on attracting customers to its streaming platform, dominated by fictional launches from powerful brands like Marvel and Star Wars.

In addition, during the pandemic, some films from major studios such as Pixar were distributed directly via streaming. (Luke, onwards) and Disney Animation (Raya and the last dragon), which increased the number of subscribers.

Disney’s content production budget is $ 30 billion this year. exclusive programming will include She-Hulk: lawyer wonderful series Andor from lucasfilm, the film Pinocchio with Tom Hank, a sequel to Abradacabraand the competition dancing with the Starswho is leaving the ABC network.

In its results report, The Walt Disney Company indicated it earned $ 2,983 million in the past nine months, up 62% from the same period a year earlier, driven primarily by its amusement parks.

source: EFE

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