In its second-quarter 2022 earnings report, Disney reported the number of new subscribers to its Disney Plus streaming service had grown by about 8 million during the first three months of 2022. This is in contrast to its competitor, Netflix, which has seen a decline in users.
Disney Plu's total subscribers currently reach 87.5 million worldwide. This figure does not even include the number of Disney Plus Hotstar subscribers of 50.1 million globally.
Reporting from The Verge, Disney Plus subscribers exclusively in the United States and Canada increased by 7.1 million compared to the first quarter of last year.
Disney said the number of subscribers to its streaming services, including Hulu and ESPN Plus, now totals 205 million. This figure is an increase from 196.4 million subscribers from January 2020.
Although Disney Plus has increased the number of new subscribers, unfortunately this is not in line with its revenue where Disney Plus is reportedly still eating away at Disney's revenue due to high production costs, advertising, and technology.
Meanwhile, rival Netflix recently reported losing 200,000 subscribers in the January-March 2021 period. This is Netflix's first decline in more than a decade.
Even Netflix is expected to lose another 2 million subscribers within three months from April to June.
Previously reported in its first-quarter 2022 earnings report, Netflix said that Russia's war in Ukraine and its sanctions were affecting their subscriber base. Another factor is the password sharing feature in many homes.
"It's becoming increasingly clear that the pace of growth into our targeted market (broadband home) depends in part on factors we don't directly control, such as connected TV usage, adoption of on-demand entertainment and data costs," Netflix said.
Netflix's subscriber count fell from 221.84 million to 221.64 million during the January to March period. Previously, it was predicted that Netflix subscribers would increase to 2.5 million in that period.
Netflix says it's focused on finding the best way to monetize accounts other than those who live in the same household. They admit that the account sharing feature may be able to drive growth rates.
