Disney Plus Surpasses 50 Million Paid Subscribers: Here's How It Compares To Netflix

• The comparison
• Video Games
• Disney Plus Surpasses 50 Million Paid Subscribers: Here's How It Compares To Netflix

Disney Plus has surpassed 50 million paid subscribers worldwide in the five months since its launch, Disney has confirmed. It's an extremely impressive number, given that Disney Plus has yet to launch in many major territories. This follows the recent launch of the service in March in parts of Europe, including the UK and Ireland. Disney Plus has also just launched in India as part of the Hotstar service. Disney notes that eight million of its subscribers come from India. Disney also further explained its plans to expand the service to Japan and Latin America later in 2020. "We are truly humbled that Disney+ is resonating with millions of people around the world, and we believe this bodes well for our company." Expansion continues in Western Europe and in Japan and all of Latin America later this year," said Disney's Kevin Mayer. For comparison, Netflix said it had 167.1 million subscribers at the end of 2019. Disney's goal was 60 to 90 million users by its fiscal year 2024, so it's an incredible start. It doesn't make sense to compare the launch of Netflix to the launch of Disney Plus: they both launched at very different times. But it's clear that people have found space in their lives for the two of them, and Disney has always felt that it was designed to complement other services rather than be the main streaming offering for the majority of people.

Why the large number?

Several factors have contributed to the success of Disney Plus. The launch was an event in itself, as viewers were able to stream many beloved and previously elusive movies in one place. Then his first big original, The Mandalorian, caught fire with audiences, helped along by the Baby Yoda phenomenon. Since then, Disney has sparked a lot of interest in the US for the early release of the Frozen 2 and Onward movies. They made up for the lack of more hyped originals. Meanwhile, the UK version of the service launched on a pre-order deal that brought the price down from a one-year subscription. What happens next will be interesting. Some of the biggest and most original Disney Plus originals halted production during the current health crisis, including The Falcon and Winter Soldier and WandaVision. The first is expected to be released in August, while the second will arrive in December. Meanwhile, the next Artemis Fowl movie is now coming straight to Disney Plus instead of coming out first. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is also likely to hit the service sometime this year.