Disney+ now has 118 million subscribers, up from 73 million a year ago

News
By
published
Disney+ on an iPhone
Disney+ on an iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Dinsey+ now has more than 118 million subscribers.
  • 2020 figures show Disney+ had almost 74 million subscribers.

The Apple TV+ competitor Disney Plus now has more than 118 million subscribers, Disney said during an earnings report. That number is a massive 60% increase on the 73.7 million subscribers that it had this time last year, marking quite the growth for the streaming outfit.

We're now beyond the two-year anniversary of the Disney+ launch with Disney saying that it is "extremely pleased with the success of [its] streaming business." As well you might expect it to be.

It wasn't all good news, though. While Disney+ might be seeing considerable growth, its losses are increasing as well. Disney says that's due to higher programming and other costs, although that's being offset by that subscriber growth I mentioned earlier. Regardless, the point still stands that Disney+ is costing Disney money right now.

The higher loss at Disney+ was due to higher programming and production, marketing and technology costs, partially offset by increases in subscription and Premier Access revenues. Higher subscription revenue reflected subscriber growth and increases in retail pricing. Higher Premier Access revenue was due to two releases in the current quarter, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise, compared to one release in the prior-year quarter, Mulan. The increases in costs and subscribers reflected the ongoing expansion of Disney+.

Dinsey+ continues to benefit from some big-name releases including Loki and The Mandalorian, with more probably hits on the way. Having access to a huge back catalog of content helps attract subscribers as well — something that Apple TV+ can't boast.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.