Mickey Mouse is an innocent, friendly-looking character but when it comes to business, he’s not playing around.
When Disney decided to get into the streaming game last year, it was a foregone conclusion they stood to become the behemoth in the industry simply for the staggering amount of content they already owned, and produce each year.
A report in Digital TV Research Monday showed just how fast and far Disney+ has come since their launch, and the news will make Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos squirm a little bit.
By 2026, the report suggests that Disney+ will be at 294 million world wide subscribers, passing Netflix who should have roughly 286 million subscribers.
Simon Murray, the principal analyst for Digital TV Research laid out his logic to The Hollywood Reporter like this. “Disney+ Hotstar will roll out to 13 Asian countries by 2026. These countries will supply 108 million (37 percent) of the global Disney+ subscriber total, but only $2.62 billion (13 percent) of the platform’s revenues by 2026. Hotstar subscribers pay less than a third of the monthly subscription fee of their U.S. counterpart.”
Streaming is soaring all over the world, and for more than just Disney and Netflix. Of course Amazon is in the mix, and should be at 184 million members by 2026. HBO Max will have 50 million watching their shows whenever they want, and Apple TV+ is projected to be at 11 million subscribers.
If you’re wondering about China, and how they will impact the global streaming wars, Digital TV Research said they will be at a combined 279 million subscribers.
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