Last night, just hours before the of Disney+, the entertainment giant’s all-new was already enjoying success, even before the first film was streamed.
On the evening before the new streaming went live, Disney+ had more than 1.9 million subscribers in the United States, with a peak in pre-orders just ahead of the that saw almost 100,000 fans signing up for the first time on Sunday.
Disney executives have been only too happy to give themselves a preemptive pat on the back, predicting that the new will have between 60 and 90 million subscribers by 2024 outside of the United States. Chief competing Netflix currently boasts about 158 million subscribers globally.
The forecast looks highly positive for 5 major from varying parent companies, including Disney+. It’s projected that Disney+, Amazon and Netflix will lead the global on demand by the year 2025 with a combined total of 529 million subscribers.
A report from Digital TV Research projects that “Disney+ will be the biggest winner” by picking up just over 100 million subscribers by 2025, but the news is much more foreboding for Apple TV. Another part of the report states that of the 1.9 million fans who’ve subscribed to Disney+ so far, more than a third of them subscribe to at least one other .
Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger is being credited with laying the groundwork for the company’s new , as he began with low-key testing of a streaming called “DisneyLife” in England. Shortly thereafter, Iger that Disney was imagining (and creating) a major streaming .
In his memoir, Ride of a Lifetime, Iger describes the process by saying that Disney was “hastening the disruption of its own business.”
As a leader in the entertainment , Disney knew that streaming was the way of the future, and that to remain competitive, they’d have to throw their proverbial hat in the streaming ring as well. After all, last year alone, there were more than 613 million streaming around the globe, and only 556 million cable subscribers, per the Motion Picture Association of America.
At the moment, Amazon has a total of 100 million , and Hulu has almost 29 million.
Disney+ enjoyed its today and debuted with almost 500 films and 7,500 TV . The newest member of the also kicked off its roll-out with the premiere of Disney’s live-action version of Lady and the Tramp. The new will also feature The World According to from , as well as like Wars: The Mandalorian from the brilliant mind of .
Disney+ is expected to boast a subscriber count of more than 8 million by the time the service is just 7 weeks old.