Disney+’s phenomenal growth continued through the end of 2020, reaching 94.9 million paid subscribers in the less than 14 months since its launch, according to Walt Disney Company’s fiscal first quarter earnings report on Thursday.
The latest total as of the quarter ended Jan. 2 represented a 258% increase over the previous fiscal Q1, when the streaming service had 26.5 million subscribers.
Hulu’s Live TV + SVOD service lost 100,000 subscribers, but its 4 million total was still up 25% year-over year. Hulu SVOD-only gained 30% YoY, to reach 35.4 million. Hulu’s 39.4 million overall total was also up 30% YoY.
ESPN+ subscribers jumped 83% YoY, to 12.1 million.
Combined, the three services have 146.4 million global subscribers. While that’s still 57 million shy of Netflix’s 203.7 million as of year-end 2020, it’s the closest any rival has come thus far to the world’s leading streaming service.
However, average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) for Disney+ was down 28% in the quarter (to $4.03).
That was attributed to the launch of Disney+ within the South Asian streaming giant Hotstar, now controlled by Disney. One of the popular deals for the Disney+ Hotstar bundle includes Disney+ at under $2 per month, and indications are that Hotstar accounts for up to a third of Disney+’s nearly 95 million global subscribers, reports Deadline.
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