Disney Plus subscriber growth shows no sign of slowing down. As of the 3rd July, Disney's video streaming service had 116 million subscribers – three million more than Wall Street analysts predicted.
According to the company's third quarter earnings statement, the House of Mouse piled on 8.7 million new customers in the last quarter alone. And that's in spite of Disney Plus hiking its monthly fee by £1 / $1 / AU$3 a month in March.
It's not all rainbows and fairy dust, though. While Disney's total revenue shot up 45% due to theme park re-openings, Disney Plus’ average revenue per subscriber per month dropped 10% year-on-year from $4.62 to $4.16.
It's also worth noting that almost 40% of new Disney Plus subscribers weren't from the US, UK or Australia. Most came via Disney Hotstar, which is available in India and offers Bollywood movies in addition to traditional Disney fare.
This is hugely significant because, whereas Disney Plus subscribers cough up £8 / $8 / AU$12 a month, Disney Plus Hotstar customers pay less than half that – around 299 rupees (£3/$3) a month.
Still, there's no doubt that Disney Plus appears to be in rude health. It'll be interesting to see whether it can keep growing its subscriber base as it continues to release blockbusters such as Jungle Cruise and Black Widow on Disney Plus, on the day they hit cinemas.
Disney's US-only streaming services also posted gains. Hulu grew its subscriber base by 21% to 42.8 million, while ESPN Plus grew 75% to 14.9 million. In all, Disney's three services boast a total of 173 million subscribers. Impressive – but still some way short of Netflix, which had 209 million customers as of July 2021.
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