Disney has officially passed Netflix as the world's largest streaming company.
According to Variety, Disney now has a total direct-to-consumer subscription count of 221 million, which surpasses Netflix's 220.7 million subscribers, as of July 2022. The Mouse House's total subscription count includes Disney+'s 152.1M, Hulu's 46.2M and ESPN+'s 22.8M. While Disney didn't reveal its individual subscriber numbers, meaning there's potential for a single subscriber to have individual subscriptions to two or three services, the numbers still represent a win for the company. Disney+ added 14.4 million subscribers during the company's third fiscal quarter while Hulu and ESPN+ added 600,000 and 500,000 new subscribers, respectively.
The record-breaking count comes as Disney announces its plans to launch a cheaper, ad-supported tier for Disney+. Titled Disney+ Basic, the new plan that will include ads will launch on Dec. 8 in the U.S. and cost $7.99/month. The current tier without ads, which currently carries the $7.99/month price tag, will be rebranded as Disney+ Premium and see its monthly price increase to $10.99. Disney has stated that subscribers in the Disney+ Basic tier can expect about four minutes of ads per hour, which will be broken up into 15- and 30-second spots.
Disney is Not Slowing Down on Streaming Content
Disney continues to heavily spend on streaming with the company reportedly spending more than $1 billion on content during its third quarter. Some high-profile Disney+ series that are currently in development include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, National Treasure: Edge of History, Nautilus, and new seasons of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers and Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. The streaming service will also be the home of new Star Wars and Marvel series, including She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Daredevil: Born Again, The Mandalorian Season 3 and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
While Disney continues to attract new subscribers, Netflix is fighting to keep current subscribers on its service. The company recently lost a little under a million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022 and had previously missed subscriber targets in 2021. Netflix is hoping to stop the bleeding by introducing an ad-supported subscription tier at a lower cost. "We've left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say: 'Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,'" Netflix co-CEO and CCO Ted Sarandos said. "[We're] adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, 'Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.'"
It is unknown at this time how much a Netflix tier with ads would cost, but the company's current monthly stand at $9.99 for Basic, $15.49 for Standard and $19.99 for Premium, with the number of screens a subscriber can watch on at the same time being one, two and four, respectively, for each plan. Netflix's ad-supported tier will launch in early 2023.
Source: Variety