Time to take stock for the Walt Disney Company streaming platform, when Disney+ Day is one day away, celebrating its two years in business. The synthetic picture that emerges from the latest quarterly of the company is Disney+ continues to grow, albeit at a pace that in the months of July, August and September 2021 was not as high as previously. In the quarter ended October 2 last year, the audience of Disney+ has expanded with other 2.1 million subscribers; the total number thus rises to 118.1 million.
Growth on a sequential basis slowed down very markedly, just think that in the previous quarter (ended July 3) the number of new subscribers was 12.4 million; on the other hand, 8.7 new members were registered in the quarter ended April 3. Part of the decline is attributable to the results obtained by Disney Plus Hotstar – the variant of the service dedicated to the Indian market – which lost 2 million subscribers; on the other hand, in the other markets, such as the United States and Europe, there was an increase of around 4 million subscribers.
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We must also consider that the summer period was rather flat on the content side, with the exception of the What If series and a couple of films (Black Widow and Jungle Cruise, initially made available with VIP access, which involves an additional payment). It should go better in the last part of the year, considering both the enhancement of the offer that will take place on the occasion of Disney+ Day and the new TV series that have what it takes to satisfy the public fond of Marvel and Star Wars content: The first 2 episodes of Hawkeye will be available from November 24, while the series about the best-known bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe, The Book of Boba Fett, will begin on December 29.
Beyond the decline in the number of subscribers – a trend also taken into account by Disney – we must not lose sight of the overall results that the platform has managed to achieve in its first two years: in the last quarter the subscribers increased by 60% compared to a year ago and the objectives for 2024 are still considered achievable by the company’s top management. Commenting on the latest financial data, Bob Chapek, CEO of Walt Disney, said he was confident of reaching the milestone of 230 million subscribers by September 2024. And, again to contextualize the data, it is recalled that Netflix in September had about 214 million. of subscribers, but this is a result achieved in over ten years of activity.