Disney Plus continues to gain ground in the streaming world as it records 7.9 million new subscribers during the first three months of 2022, according to the company's Q2 earnings report on Wednesday.
The streaming service is now holding a formidable 87.6 million subscribers worldwide, while the Disney Plus Hotstar has a promising 50.1 million international subscribers. Compared to last year's overall users at 44 million, the US and Canada alone logged more than 7.1 million new subscribers this year, bringing the number to more than 51 million.
The company also highlighted that Hulu and ESPN Plus have risen to over 205 million, which is a boost from the 196.4 million users that it recorded last January.
March was the main highlight of Disney Plus since it saw increased traffic when it launched several original programs such as the Cheaper by the Dozen, Marvel's Moon Knight, and Pixar's Turning Red. The popular family movie Encanto contributed to the success of the platform as well since it spent twelve weeks in Nielsen's weekly streaming top 10 in the US.
Meanwhile, Disney Plus' rival Netflix continues to lag behind after reporting that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in contrast to the previous quarter, which is also its first decline in more than a decade. But the streaming platform still has around 222 million subscribers.
HBO and HBO Max also reported 3 million new subscribers last quarter, which brings their total number of customers to 77 million. The streaming platform has enjoyed huge success from Season 2 of Euphoria earlier this year, but it still lags behind Disney Plus.
Read Also : Disney+ Beats Netflix in Q1 2022 with 11.8 M New Subscribers, Reveals New Content Coming
More Subscribers to Come
Wall Street analysts' prediction expects more subscribers to come in Disney Plus with 5.2 million. The company also reported that it is earning more subscribers than ever, especially in the US.
Their average monthly revenue per paid subscriber was at $6.10 previously, but now it is at $6.32, all thanks to a huge jump in "retail pricing and a lower mix of wholesale subscribers," according to Disney Plus' report.
However, in spite of this success, the streaming platform is actually losing money due to its higher costs for production, technology, and advertising. This is similar to Netflix's situation, and it is unlikely to decline sooner, and it could possibly cut off its subscriber growth.
Hence, Disney is already eyeing an ad-supported tier to make the subscription plan cheaper. The platform is set to release this plan later this year.
Meanwhile, the confidence of investors in Disney seems to be going down as well since the company's stock dropped more than 30% this year. As of writing, it declined by 2% again to close the trading day at $105.25.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
