Disney said Tuesday that its streaming service has surpassed 100 million global subscribers, achieving half the audience of Netflix in just 16 months.
The milestone cements Disney+ as the most successful streaming play to come out of legacy media. WarnerMedia's HBO Max, NBCUniversal's Peacock and other services all have well under 50 million subscribers. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News.)
“The enormous success of Disney+ — which has now surpassed 100 million subscribers — has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement.
The meteoric rise of Disney+ has stunned the industry and given Disney, a nearly 100-year-old company, a strong position to compete with Netflix, Amazon and other companies that are disrupting Hollywood.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings last year praised Disney for its ability to adapt to the direct-to-consumer business and called their rapid growth "stunning."
Achieving that growth has required Disney to sacrifice profits across its traditional businesses, but the payoff now looks promising: Disney originally hoped to have at least 60 million subscribers for its streaming services, including Hulu and ESPN+, by 2024. Now, it is targeting an audience of 300 to 350 million by that date.
Disney will now increase its investment in streaming and is promising to release at least 100 new titles every year across its entertainment brands.
"Our direct-to-consumer business is the Company’s top priority," Chapek said, "and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth.”
