What you need to know
- Disney announced that Disney+ had reached 28.6 million subscribers.
- ESPN+ is at 7.6 million paid subscribers and Hulu is at 30.7 million paid subscribers.
- Disney+ will launch in India via Hotstar on March 29.
- Disney+ "has exceeded even our greatest expectations," CEO Robert Iger said in the quarterly report.
Today was Disney's Q1 2020 earnings call, which gives up our first major update on Disney+ since it launched in November. We know that there were 10 million subscribers on Day One, and from November 12 to December 28, 2019, Disney+ swelled to 25.6 million paid subscribers — now up to 28.6 million today — but we're not sure how many of those are solo Disney+ subscriptions and how many are Disney+ bundle subscriptions with ESPN+ and Hulu.
Also announced today, we also now know that Disney+ will finally launch in India on March 29 with Hotstar, in a launch that coincides with the start of the cricket season. We don't yet know the pricing or bundle options for Disney+ in India yet, but hopefully that will be coming soon.
From Mickey Mouse to The Mandalorian
Disney+ has proven to be a massive hit in the US with its extensive library of films and shows, and new originals like 'The Mandalorian', and that selection has already won over tens of millions of subscribers.
On the content side, we now have more concrete launch windows for upcoming originals on Disney+:
- Falcon and the Winter Soldier: August 2020
- The Mandalorian Season 2: October 2020
- WandaVision: December 2020
As if Disney wasn't pushing Disney+ and specifically the Disney+ bundle hard enough before the launch, two announcements in January sweetened the pot for current Hulu subscribers as well as Verizon customers. First, Disney allowed Verizon's Disney+ on Us subscribers to get the Disney+ bundle for $6 a month, which is an insane deal, and the news that you can now get the Disney+ Bundle with Live Hulu and Hulu (No Ads). We'll have to wait until Q2 to see the impact these new incentives have, as well as what the subscriber count swells to after the Disney+ launch in Western Europe on March 24.
