Disney Plus may be a new streaming service launched by the American entertainment titan in November 2019, a touch over two years after being announced. Disney first signaled an intention to maneuver into the streaming market in 2016 by acquiring a minority stake in streaming technology developer BAMTech.
This became a 75% stake the subsequent year. The service is an element of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International business, alongside Hulu and ESPN+. Available initially within the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, Disney Plus launched in Australia and New Zealand one week later.
Disney Plus took the subsequent steps to internationalization, having launched in an exceeding amount of key European markets and India (through its present Hotstar service). Fans of the Mouse House can access Disney Plus anywhere with a VPN without worrying whether it is available in their region or not.
Anticipation levels were indeed high, with Disney Plus the top-trending Google search term within the US in 2019. In 24 hours, the eagerly-awaited new platform had reached 10 million subscribers (though a number of these had signed up pre-release).
Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian, by featuring the meme-friendly ‘Baby Yoda,’ helped cement the platform’s flying start, becoming the world’s best in-demand show for a time. By the top of 2019, Disney Plus had already gained a quarter of 1,000,000 users. This figure has been doubled to 50 million by April 2020.
The pandemic and lockdown played a significant role in the growth of online streaming platforms. Disney Plus’s great strength is its content. At launch, the service offered a way smaller content library than rivals like Netflix or Amazon. It’s acknowledged. However, that’s Disney’s strengths exist in quality over quantity.
The Star Wars franchise, which The Mandalorian belongs, is simply one example of the entertainment juggernaut’s much-loved content. The Marvel and Pixar production houses are subsidiaries of the House of Mouse, which also owns the whole back catalog of The Simpsons by its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Disney titles have also migrated from other platforms (many from Netflix), giving the platform considerable appeal to younger households.
On these grounds, Disney Plus is being taken as a serious rival to Netflix and Amazon Prime’s likes. While the marketplace is already crowded, indeed, the entry into the sphere of the world’s second-biggest entertainment company, a reputation that has boasted name recognition around the globe for the most exciting part of a century, may be a game-changer.
We’ve collected some Disney Plus stats below, including Disney Plus subscriber growth, Disney Plus ARPU, and broader segment revenue for Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. Read on to search out out more.
Disney plus user stats
Nov 2019 10 million
Dec 2019 26.5 million
Feb 2020 28.6 million
April 2020 50 million
Disney plus downloads
On the first day following the 12 November 2019 launch, 10 million
The first month following 12 November 2019 launch 28 million.
European downloads, the first day following 24 March 2020 European launch 5 million
European downloads, the first month following 24 March 2020 European launch 15.6 million
Global downloads, the first month following 24 March 2020 European launch 21 million
Is it worth it to get Disney plus?
For fans of Disney’s legions of Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel, who want to enjoy those movies, and their extra features, the service is well worth the relatively low monthly fee. The same goes for fogeys who wish their kids to enjoy Disney’s myriad family movies and television shows. And ditto for anybody who needs to follow the most recent adventures of Baby Yoda.
There is no doubt that online streaming platforms have overshadowed linear TV, and Disney Plus has emerged well in the market to capitalize on this opportunity. Disney has a good variety of content that appeals to people of all ages.
If it is a choice between this or Apple TV Plus, then get this. If it is a choice between Disney and Hulu and you have got kids? Get this. Nevertheless, you can also get both through the Disney Plus Bundle that offers a great Disney Plus + Hulu package and ESPN package.
HBO Max contains a strong slate of kids’ content further but is double the value at $15 a month. For us, Disney Plus comes toward the highest of our streaming service review rankings, below Netflix and a notch above the Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. Your priorities may push one amongst those above Disney — especially if you do not have kids.
Original programs just like the Mandalorian and Wanda Vision are great. Therefore, combining these with programming spanning almost 100 years will likely encourage users to renew their subscriptions every month. Disney Plus is really fun, easy to use, and comparatively affordable.
Disney plus is compatible with which devices?
Disney Plus has been one of the widest distributions of any streaming app. It is offered on almost any phone, tablet, computer, connected TV, or streaming media box, including those from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Roku, Sony, Amazon, Samsung, and LG.
With a Disney Plus subscription, you’ll watch up to four different shows on four other devices without delay — whether or not they are on the go (with offline downloads supported) or on TV reception.
We tested Disney Plus on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, iOS, smart TV (LG and Samsung), Android TV, and therefore the web, and other than some weirdness on launch day back in November, all of them worked as expected. If your streamer supports 4K HDR, then there’s a healthy selection of titles just like the recent Marvel movies and the Mandalorian, but others just like the recent Muppets titles are only in HD. You can also visit Disney Plus’s device compatibility page and check out all the supported devices.
Voice commands worked well on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku to direct us to the show title or the Disney service. But crashing Fire TV when the app wasn’t yet installed, voice searches worked every other time.
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