Two of the leading over-the-top (OTT) platforms globally, Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar added about 16 million new subscribers in the quarter ended September 2020. While both the platforms are slightly different, they are owned by the same company, Disney. The quarterly earnings report of Disney’s streaming services came out on Thursday. The numbers were revealed by Christine McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Senior Executive Vice President of Disney. As per a report from Gadgets360, McCarthy noted that together, Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar added over 16 million new subscribers in the Q3 (July to September), 2020. More details on the story ahead.
Disney+ Hotstar Total Subscriber Base Grows to 18.5 Million Paid Subscribers
Post the addition of new subscribers in the Q3, 2020, the Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform reached over 18.5 million paid subscribers taking the total subscriber base to 73.7 million globally for Disney+. One of the biggest reasons cited by McCarthy behind the addition of a large number of subscribers was the delayed Indian Premier League (IPL).
Since IPL’s streaming rights are with Disney+ Hotstar, the only way to watch it online was through purchasing a subscription of the streaming platform. A thing worth noting here is that Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscription was available for just Rs 399 per year; thus users didn’t wait too much to subscribe. Now even though the IPL has ended, these new subscribers will be there for one year at least until their subscription expires.
In April, Disney had revealed that it had over 8 million paid subscribers. This means that the streaming platform has more than doubled its existing paid subscribers base.
McCarthy said, “Disney+ ended Q4 with 73.7 million paid subscribers or an increase of over 16 million subscribers versus Q3. Disney+ Hotstar subscriber additions were the largest contributor to this increase, driven by the start of the delayed IPL season. Disney+ Hotstar subscribers now account for a little over a quarter of our global subscriber base.”
These numbers are hard to compare with that of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video since there is no clarity on the number of subscribers both these platforms have.
