The Disney Plus launch was always going to drive a large number of signups with its exclusive content deals for Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar content, but the fact that it coincided with the global coronavirus lockdowns has meant it has exceeded even teh most optimistic expectations.
Disney Plus (or Disney+ if you prefer) is the latest streaming platform to enter the market, competing with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Apple+, and a vast array of smaller national offerings around the world. The market is becoming increasingly saturated to the point that many are already predicting a resurgence in piracy as consumers face spending hundreds of dollars each month to access the handful of shows they want to watch – cable contracts 2.0. Disney, as giant corporation that owns so much content, was always going to make a big splash when it launched but the numbers are staggering.
In a traditional launch pattern, signups in the first couple of weeks are the highest as people sign up to test out the new service thanks to a media blitz, but according to information from streaming analytics firm Antenna seen by Forbes, Disney Plus growth has followed a different path. The company did see the huge expected number of signups in the first couple of weeks, but thanks to the coronavirus lockdown between Saturday 14/03 and Monday 16/03, the number of Disney+ signups were more than triple the numbers from the week prior.
The Mickey Mouse network should be rightly proud of their numbers, but streaming platforms across the board are seeing massive growth. HBO Now and Showtime have both seen their subscriber numbers saw by over 75 per cent over the last month, whilst Netflix, which already has more than 60 million US subscribers, saw its subscriber number jump by a whopping 47 per cent.
It is not just video streaming platforms that have seen such growth either, with video game platform Steam setting a new concurrent user record of over 22 million people and online slots seeing similarly large spikes in player numbers.
It is great to see these success stories from digital companies during the lockdown, but pandemic has caused economic duress for a far larger number of firms. Restaurants and cafes have been forced to shut down, and music and sporting events have been cancelled or postponed around the world. Even the best online sports betting operators are struggling with little for their players to back – virtual sports and football matches in Myanmar and Belarus do not generate the same excitement as a Premier League or Champions League fixture. Hopefully, as the virus outbreak is brought under control and countries re-open, these businesses will thrive once more, but for now it is a waiting game.
Photograph by Geralt