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Television Businesses

Disney Says It Now Has 94.9 Million Disney+ Subscribers (cnbc.com) 83

Posted by BeauHD from the not-too-shabby dept.
Disney announced Thursday that its streaming platform surpassed 94.9 million subscribers, beating its four-year goal in 14 months. CNBC reports: Disney+ exceeded the company's initial subscriber goal of 60 million to 90 million by 2024 back in November, forcing it to reforecast. The company now expects Disney+ will have 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024. Christine McCarthy, the company's chief financial officer, said Thursday that Disney will no longer regularly report streaming subscriber numbers in future quarters as it's now more than a year out from the launch of Disney+. But, she said, Disney may disclose subscriber figures when it reaches certain milestones.

Disney has seen rapid growth in subscribers since its launch in November 2019. On day one, the company had 10 million sign-ups and, by the end of the first quarter, the service had secured 26.5 million subscribers. As the pandemic raged on, keeping consumers indoors, Disney+ jumped from 33.5 million subscribers in its second quarter to 57.5 million in its third. In the fourth quarter, the company surpassed 73.7 million subscribers. Disney updated that figure during its December investor day, saying that the service had reached 86.6 million subscribers.
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Disney Says It Now Has 94.9 Million Disney+ Subscribers More

Disney Says It Now Has 94.9 Million Disney+ Subscribers

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  • But (Score:2, Insightful)

    by NateFromMich ( 6359610 )
    They don't have me.
    Fuckers.

    • Re:But (Score:4, Insightful)

      by msauve ( 701917 ) on Thursday February 11, 2021 @09:46PM (#61054454)
      Yep. Disney is evil. They've pushed for copyright term extensions, and have stolen our culture from us. They built their business by copying others (Mark Twain, Hans Christian Anderson, Bros. Grimm, etc.), but now don't play well with others.

      US copyright is supposed to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." That's completely BS now - Disney didn't create _anything_ expecting a payback taking more than a few (1-5) years.

      Star Wars wants to be free! There's no reason any Beatles stuff should still be under copyright. Reclaim our culture!! The original 14+14 term was too generous to begin with.

      • Re:But (Score:4, Interesting)

        by fafalone ( 633739 ) on Friday February 12, 2021 @06:50AM (#61055304)
        Right on, let's bring those copyright rants! Disney in particular after what they've done to copyright there should be no moral obligation to respect theirs. 14+14 was also back when copying a work was difficult and costly, you had to hire a printing press which wasn't cheap, then getting it out to anywhere besides the immediate area was an even bigger undertaking out of reach for most. With today's technology to instantly distribute to billions for pennies, copyright should be 3 years with one 3 year extension during which time 10% of profits go to funding the availability of public domain works.
        To promote creating new art was the whole purpose, not to secure a lifetime a profit for a single work that your children and grandchildren profit from too. They've eliminated fair use with DRM and severely abuse DMCA, turned YouTube and similar into a grossly unfair copyright lawyers ultimate fantasy, and are *still* pushing to make things *even more* in their favor with their lawsuits against ISPs for not terminating customers bases on their error filled notices alone and ramming through the CASE Act to screw people out of an actual court.
        So, yeah, there's zero moral obligation to respect copyright from any large multinational. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, if you reuse any word of this I'll sue for eleventy bazillion dollarydoos, (C)(R)(TM)(P)(SM) and Patent Pending.

      • There's a reason "Disney's" appears before the titles of those stories. They have been commissioning stories for forever. Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and many others were contemporaries of Disney.

        Nobody stole "your culture." They invented your childhood by mastering the art of visual storytelling. They owned "your culture" to begin with. Many authors (like the one who wrote Mary Poppins) loathed Disney because they changed the story to fit their ideas.

        There are countless other movie versions of the sto

      • The original term made sense at the time given the limitations of technology.

    • and they will never have my family either. The corp greed is strong with Disney

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      That number will drop once those prices start to go up, and I assure you, the price will increase.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rworne ( 538610 )

        I wonder when they got those numbers?

        Everyone who is on Verizon with an unlimited plan got Disney+ free for a year. That offer expired around the end of December.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by r_naked ( 150044 )

      They don't have me.

      Fuckers.

      I cancelled Disney+ and Hulu. I had been on the fence for a while, but firing Gina was the final straw. In this day and age, it is sad that you have to watch what you say, or you may be fired (cancelled). It is absolutely Disney's right to fire her. So, I am exercising MY right in cancelling them.

      I get that if someone is posting *hate*, and by hate I mean "Let's KILL XXX" or "Those ni**ers need to DIE!" -- crap like that, then yes, there not only could, but should be ramifications. However, posting a differ

      • It is has become much worse then that.

        When you get cancelled for stating facts [nypost.com] or comedy [twitter.com] then what the fuck is the point of having free speech if some retard is offended at ANYTHING you say?

        These are the two things that dumb people got upset over:

        "Jews were beaten in the streets, not by N@zi soldiers but by their neighbors... even by children, Because history is edited, most people today don't realize that to get to the point where N@zi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • "The Mandalorian" star Gina Carano fired by Disney (Score:5, Informative)

    by RoccamOccam ( 953524 ) on Thursday February 11, 2021 @09:15PM (#61054380)

    "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future," a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement. "Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."

    The post causing the controversy was "J_ws were beaten in the streets, not by N@zi soldiers but by their neighbors... even by children... Because history is edited, most people today don't realize that to get to the point where N@zi soldiers could easily round up thousands of J_ws, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being J_ws. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?"

    Note: I had to change some words because the post was being blocked by Slashdot's "lameness filter".

    • green lit this right? That they're manipulating you to get engagement and clicks... And you fell for it (so did I).
    • Posting about N@zi's to make a point about how you shouldn't hate people for their political views is an interesting choice. Hating N@zi's for their political views is commonly accepted. I don't "hate" most Trumpists but if they actively support his effort to overturn the election and install the guy who lost as President then they should be prosecuted.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Posting about N@zi's to make a point about how you shouldn't hate people for their political views is an interesting choice. Hating N@zi's for their political views is commonly accepted. I don't "hate" most Trumpists but if they actively support his effort to overturn the election and install the guy who lost as President then they should be prosecuted.

        Why should they be prosecuted if they (1) believe the election was stolen and (2) use legal means to promote and address their grievance? Did you call for Stacy Abrams and her followers to be prosecuted for their beliefs and actions too?

        • I should clarify by "actively support" I mean still fighting after Stop the Steal had its day in court. I agree you can't and shouldn't prosecute somebody just for holding an opinion and idly posting it on the Internet. In other words the same standards as for US neo-N@zis and Sharia-Law-in-America Muslims.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Baki ( 72515 )

      This was and is a scandalous comparison, like others below have already pointed out.
      Even though I really dislike Disney and would never give a penny to them, it was completely appropriate for them to fire such a person.
      A private company has all the right to choose not to be associated with a person with such extreme views (there are many more issues than this statement alone).

    • Gina Carano Rehired By Disney After She Identifies As An Abusive Male Director
      Babylon Bee [slashdot.org]

      BURBANK, CA—Disney has apologized to Gina Carano and rehired her after she announced today that she identifies as a problematic, abusive, toxic male director.

      "I'm not a Republican actress -- I'm actually a toxic, abusive, gaslighting director of many popular shows and films over the years," Carano said. "I am finally ready to come out of the closet and live my truth."

      Disney's response was immediate, as the

  • It's free for Verizon Unlimited wireless customers, and new FiOS customers on Verizon get a 1-year free deal with signup. I wouldn't pay for it, necessarily, but apparently I already do, so why not? Mandalorian hasn't been horrible.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )

      Verizon doesn't cover all of the US, and they don't cover the rest of the world, where there are no disney+ bundle deals. Besides, Verizon isn't owned by Disney, so you're ultimately still paying for Disney+ indirectly: Disney's not letting Verizon get their customers on it for free.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hjf ( 703092 )

        [...] the rest of the world, where there are no disney+ bundle deals

        Yes there are. I'm in Argentina and Cablevision/Fibertel offers a Disney+ bundle with their service: . They've been nagging me to sign up. It's 90 days free, and then 385 pesos per month (that's around USD 2, yes you read that right, two US dollars).

        • t's 90 days free, and then 385 pesos per month (that's around USD 2, yes you read that right, two US dollars).

          In the US it's also around 2 dollars if you add it to an existing service.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by hjf ( 703092 )

            No, 385 pesos is the full retail price for disney+ in Argentina.
            The "bundling" is only the 90 days free for being a Cablevision client, but they have different promos all the time.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Yeah, I wouldn't pay for it. I've had the service for over a year now because it comes bundled with the wireless plan, and I think that I've only watched about 20 hours worth of content on it so far. About 15 of that was the first two seasons of The Mandalorian.

    • Disney counts every one of the 94.9 million subscribers as a paying subscriber since they stopped offering free trials back in June 2020 [forbes.com]

      Disney First Quarter Earnings For Fiscal 2021 [thewaltdisneycompany.com]

      The following table presents the number of paid subscribers(1) (in millions) for Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu as of January 2, 2021

      Disney+ : 94.9 Million

      [1] A subscriber for which we recognized subscription revenue. A subscriber ceases to be a paid subscriber as of their effective cancellation date or as a result of a failed payment

  • ...that number would probably be

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )

      The Marvel stuff has started, so it's not just mando anymore.

    • For both season 1 and 2, new episodes of The Mandalorian were release in the months of November and December.

      Disney+ has increased subscriber numbers every quarter. If it's all due to The Mandalorian, there would be a drop in or a slow down in subscriber growth. But there hasn't been.

      Here are the numbers Disney has reported for Disney+ subscribers for each of the past 5 quarters.

      As of Dec. 28, 2019 : 26.5 million
      As of Mar. 28, 2020 : 33.5 million
      As of Jun. 27, 2020 : 57.5 million
      As of Oct. 3, 2020 : 73.7 mi

      • I got a year free with my last iphone purchase. Then they sent me an email when it was about to expire and told me I had another 6 months on the house. I think they are trying to buff the numbers.

        All that said i like the service and its offering and I will likely continue after the trial ends.

        Only legal place to see Hamilton. And yes, Hamilton is very good.

        • I got a year free with my last iphone purchase.

          I know people can get a free 1 year subscription to Apple TV+ with an iPhone purchase, but Disney+ too?

          • I got a year free with my last iphone purchase.

            I know people can get a free 1 year subscription to Apple TV+ with an iPhone purchase, but Disney+ too?

            Yes! it was an Apple TV + that I got with the phone. I stand corrected. I think I got the Disney + with my cable subscription.

        • I was disappointed by Hamilton. It's just a series of people walking to center stage, singing / rapping about something that they did, and then the next person comes out to sing / rap about something they did. But, I am glad I watched 20 minutes of it on Disney + to discover I was bored instead of paying many hundreds to get bored watching it in a theater.

    • It also helped to inflate the numbers by giving away free one year subscriptions to Verizon subscribers.

      Since Verizon has about 93.98 million subscribers, 94.9 million subscribers for Disney+ sounds about right.

  • How many are because it is clubbed with HotStar?

  • So you're telling me a prediction, from when the pandemic was just some rumors leaking out of Wuhan, turned out to be inaccurate? More people than projected staying home and watching TV you say? Wonder what caused that...

  • and the unthinking and the hypnotized obliged.

    I can't remember the last time I paid for anything Disney, and I certainly plan to never give them any of my money in the future.

    • Re:The fucking mouse said "Feed me", (Score:4, Informative)

      by Actually, I do RTFA ( 1058596 ) on Friday February 12, 2021 @12:09AM (#61054734)

      I can't remember the last time I paid for anything Disney, and I certainly plan to never give them any of my money in the future.

      I mean, Disney owns so much, are you sure you haven't paid for anything Disney lately? Avoiding Marvel Comics, Star Wars, Pixar, FOX shows (e.g. the Simpsons), National Geographic, the FX Channel, anything affiliated with ABC, any of the A&E networks, ESPN, Hulu, etc. That's not even counting purchases that include payments to Disney under the hood (e.g. Cable TV, a SpiderMan Movie, hell any move with SFX by ILM). And certainly it doesn't include all the various other companies Disney bought a solid chunk of early stage, some of which turned into fairly large companies (e.g. GoPro.)

      Look, I'd love to avoid Disney, but they own like 1/3 of the major creative IP in the world. Hell, if during the election you went to the 538 blog, you were on a Disney site.

  • Slightly misleading (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JMJimmy ( 2036122 ) on Thursday February 11, 2021 @10:56PM (#61054596)

    They have been running promotions to give away a free month of Disney+ so this does not mean paying customers.

    We did it cause, hey, free. We immediately cancelled as the content is painfully lacking.

    • Free month customers are excluded from that number. Bundled customers do however.

      • Clearly you didn't read the earnings report:

        "A subscriber ceases to be a paid subscriber as of their effective cancellation date"

        My effective cancellation date, having given them $0, is February 20th

        • Clearly you didn't read the earnings report: "A subscriber ceases to be a paid subscriber as of their effective cancellation date"

          Are you daft? The sentence right before that was "A subscriber for which we recognized subscription revenue." It then clarifies after that sentence that revenue from bundles and bulk sales (e.g. to all Verizon customers) is sufficient to qualify..

          Your free trial wasn't counted.

          • If you don't believe me then answer me this:

            Why is the average monthly revenue per "paid subscriber" lower than their monthly subscription fee?

            The lowest non-bundle price is US$5.83 and the cheapest bundle price is US$4.33 yet their revenue per "paid subscriber" is $4.08

            The only way that makes sense is if they are including free accounts in the subscriber totals.

            • It would be a stupidly unprofitable felony to lie o that form, so I trust it. But the short answer is your numbers are totally off. You can get D+ for 2 USD in Argentina standalone, and as a $2 add on in the US to Hulu, both of which can bring the average down. And we have no idea how much Verizon is paying to get all their customers subscriptions, hit my guess is they are not paying retail.

  • Yawn... more Clickbait-dot (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Spamalope ( 91802 ) on Thursday February 11, 2021 @10:56PM (#61054602)
    Yawn. Get back to me about Disney praising the security forces for the Uighur re-education camps in order to get Mulan greenlit.

    Tell me more about which races Disney scrubs from its media for CCCP distribution while you're at it. I'm sure there will be lots of dollars... er social justice in their behavior.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bosef1 ( 208943 )

      Completely agree with you. I wanted to confirm, is your second sentence supposed to also refer the to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP; or to the Soviet Union (USSR, in Cyrillic the CCCP)?

  • I have no idea why anyone would join Disney to see the same formula repeated over and over again.

    How many different story lines has Disney actually made into movies ?
    its almost like watching the same re-run over and over again.

  • Because we still can't subscribe here..

  • A lot of people are disgusted by what they did to Carano. Lying about what she said and firing her for it? No. Not acceptable.

    I won't support a company that gleefully works next to concentration camps in China while kowtowing to the Leftist dictatorship, then turns around and fires good actors for pointing out what the Left is doing here.

    They're going to be losing another subscriber very soon. I won't feel guilty about pirating their shit either.

  • Disney will no longer regularly report streaming subscriber numbers in future quarters as it's now more than a year out from the launch of Disney+. But, she said, Disney may disclose subscriber figures when it reaches certain milestones.

    Uhm, "We're at an unexpected high, but we'll only publish numbers when things go up...."

  • a decent achiavement in short time. but i see a lot of people cancelling their subscriptions because of mandalorian among other controversies

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