Disney Plus Hits 103 Million Subscribers

The Disney+ streaming service closed its second fiscal quarter of 2021--which ended on April 3 for Disney--with 103.6 million subscribers. This number is up from 33.5 million in March 2020, according to a recent release from Disney.

These numbers also include Disney+ Hotstar subscription numbers, which launched in India on April 3, 2020 and in Indonesia on September 5, 2020. Comparatively, Netflix recently hit 208 million, Amazon Prime has 200 million, HBO Max has 44 million, and Peacock has 42 million. While 103.6 million may seem like great growth for Disney+, it's lower than what analysts predicted, which was 110 million subscribers.

The Disney-owned Hulu grew 33% between March 2020 and 2021. Hulu now sits at 37.8 million subscribers for the streaming service. The Hulu + Live TV dropped from 4 million (as of January 2) to 3.8 million, a decline that comes after the service raised its prices back in November.

While Disney+ grew in paid subscribers, its average monthly revenue decreased from $5.63 to $3.99. This is because of Disney+ Hotstar's launch, as the average monthly revenue per subscriber is "significantly lower." Disney launched The Falcon And The Winter Soldier and WandaVision during this time--the MCU's first two original live-action series.

While Disney Parks saw a significant hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney's streaming services--Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+--all saw major growth in the past year. ESPN+ grew 75% reaching 13.8 million paid subscribers.

Currently, the Disney+ price is $8 a month or $80 a year. There is also the Disney bundle, which consists of Disney+ with Hulu (ad-supported) and ESPN+ for $14 a month or the same bundle, with an ad-free Hulu, for $20 a month. Sadly, there is no free trial for Disney+.

Disney+ should continue to see growth for the rest of the year with original TV shows like Loki arriving to the streaming service, along with movies like Black Widow, Cruella, and Disney's Jungle Cruise all coming to Premier Access later in the year.