Disney has announced plans to grow to 300-350 million streaming subscriptions by 2024 for its Disney, ESPN, Hulu and upcoming Star service, driven by new and more content launches. Disney+ is planning to release more than 100 titles this year alone, with a particular focus on its Marvel and Star Wars franchises. In addition to expanding to more countries, the company is also raising prices for the streaming services to boost revenues.
Disney announced in October that it was going to reorganise its media and entertainment business, and put more attention on its streaming services. During its Investor Day presentation, Disney said it currently has over 137 million global paid subscriptions, including 11.5 million for ESPN+, 38.8 million for Hulu and 86.8 million for Disney+, which launched in November 2019. That means Disney+ has added around 13 million new subscribers since the end of September.
Following the launch of Hotstar earlier this year in India and Indonesia, Disney shared more about its plans for Star. The service will be included as part of Disney+ in some countries, and launch as a separate streaming service in Latin America as Star+. The brand will house content from Disney’s studios, including Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios and 20th Television among others, but will also showcase local programming.
Star will launch in Europe and several other international markets on 23 February as a fully integrated part of Disney+, with its own branded tile and a new collection of general entertainment series, movies and documentaries, doubling the content catalogue available to subscribers. Disney+ meanwhile will be updated globally to offer enhanced parental controls, including the ability to set limits on access to content for specific profiles based on content ratings and the ability to add a Pin to lock profiles with access to mature content.
Disney said it will be increasing prices for its services from 26 March. Disney+ will go in the US to USD 7.99 per month or USD 79.99 per year, while the Disney Bundle with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ will increase to USD 13.99 per month.
A new agreement with Comcast was also announced, that will bring Disney+ and ESPN+ experiences to Comcast X1 set-top boxes and Flex platforms in the first quarter, joining Hulu which became available on these platforms this spring. Additionally, Hulu customers will also be able to subscribe to ESPN+ within the Hulu user interface and access the ESPN+ lineup of sports programming there from early next year.
In Europe, the service will be priced at EUR 8.99 per month or EUR 89.99 per year, with a similar pricing adjustment in the other Star launch markets, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The streaming service will continue its global rollout, now with Star, in new markets beginning with Singapore on 23 February, followed by Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea later in the year.
In Latin America, Star+ will be introduced as a standalone streaming service, bringing together local original productions, and live sports from ESPN. The service will launch in June for USD 7.50 per month (or the local equivalent), or as part of a bundle with Disney+ for USD 9.00 per month (or the local equivalent).
The biggest push for attracting subscribers will be the launch of a lot more content over the next few years. There will be ten Star Wars inspired series, ten Marvel series, and 15 Disney live action, animation and Pixar features. This will come on top of premium content that will premiere in theatres and linear channels before coming to the streaming service.
The company said that “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be available on Disney+ with Premier Access in most markets, at the same it is released in theaters on 5 March. Premier Access for the title will be priced at USD 29.99. More titles will also premiere on Disney+ as Star Originals.
From the Disney Television Studios for Disney+, there will two projects inspired by the live version of Beauty and the Beast, starring Luke Evans and Josh Gad, and with new music composed by Alan Menken. There will be a new “Swiss Family Robinson” and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” as well as “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” “Big Shot,” “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” and “Turner & Hooch.”
There will also be new content from National Geographic, including “Limitless With Chris Hemsworth,” “Welcome to Earth (working title)” featuring Will Smith, and a fourth season of the series “Genius,” which will profile Martin Luther King, Jr. The studio also announced the new documentary film “Cousteau,” along with new documentary series “Secrets of the Whales,” “A Real Bug’s Life,” and “America The Beautiful.”
For Hulu and Star, the Kardashian Jenners will create new global content under a multi-year deal, to stream exclusively on Hulu in the US and internationally on Star, with an expected debut late next year 2021. Other premiers on the services will include premium series “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Dropout,” and “Dopesick.” In 2021, a slate of FX originals, including “The Old Man,” “American Horror Stories,” “Platform,” “Reservation Dogs,” and “Y: The Last Man” will be available on Hulu in the US and Star in different countries.
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