Disney+ Subscriber Statistics 2021: How Many People Watch Disney+?

Disney+ launched in November 2019. 10 million users signed up for the service on its first day.

The streaming platform was initially available in 3 countries: the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. Disney+ has quickly expanded into other international markets, and now serves subscribers in 59 countries.

Today, the global Disney+ subscriber base totals 100 million customers, far surpassing Disney’s initial expectations of 60-90 million subscribers by 2024.

Continue reading to find all of the latest Disney+ statistics for 2021.

Let’s dive right into the data:

  • Important Disney+ Subscriber Stats
  • Disney+ subscribers worldwide
  • Disney+ US subscription revenue
  • Disney+ average revenue per user
  • Disney+ subscriber retention rate
  • Are monthly or annual subscriptions more popular on Disney+?
  • Disney+ share of SVOD streaming
  • Disney+ market share of SVOD sign-ups
  • Disney+ market share of subscriptions
  • Disney+ share of net subscriber additions
  • Disney+ gender demographics
  • Disney+ age demographics
  • Disney+ subscriber political affiliation
  • Disney+ subscribers by location
  • Race demographics of Disney+ subscribers
  • Disney+ subscribers by income brackets
  • What share of Disney+ subscribers have children?
  • How many titles are available on Disney+?
  • How much of the content on Disney+ is exclusive?
  • What share of original TV shows air on Disney+?
  • Disney+ app downloads

Important Disney+ Subscriber Stats

  • Disney+ has 100 million paying subscribers across 59 countries. That’s up from 33.5 million in March last year.
  • Disney+ has an 18% share of subscription video on demand (SVOD) subscriptions in the US.
  • In the final quarter of 2020, Disney+ accounted for 6% of all subscription streaming time in the US.
  • 65% of US households with a Disney+ subscription don’t live with children.
  • 89% of content on Disney+ is exclusive. No other major streaming service has a higher proportion of exclusive content.

Disney+ subscribers worldwide

Disney+ currently has 100 million paying subscribers across 59 countries.

The streaming service added 66.5 million new subscribers during the last year alone (March 2020 – March 2021).

Here’s a table showing Disney+ global subscriber growth since November 2019:

Date Subscribers
November 2019 10 million
December 2019 26.5 million
February 2020 28.6 million
March 2020 33.5 million
April 2020 50 million
May 2020 54.5 million
June 2020 57.5 million
August 2020 60.5 million
October 2020 73.7 million
December 2020 86.8 million
January 2021 94.9 million
March 2021 100 million

Sources: Disney, Statista, Variety.

Disney+ US subscription revenue

Disney+ brings in an estimated $2.87 billion per year from the US subscriber base. That’s an increase of 47.39% since 2020 when US revenue stood at $1.94 billion.

Forecasts suggest that Disney+ subscription revenue in the US will grow at the same rate this year, reaching $4.23 billion by 2022.

Here’s a breakdown of estimated annual Disney+ US subscription revenue since 2019:

Year Revenue
2019 $0.13 billion
2020 $1.94 billion
2021 $2.87 billion
2022 $4.23 billion

Source: eMarketer.

Disney+ average revenue per user

Disney+ reports an average monthly revenue of $4.03 per Disney+ subscriber. That’s a decrease of 27.52% since December 2019, when the average subscriber generated $5.56 per month.

The decrease in average revenue per user can be attributed to the international expansion of Disney+. In some regions, pricing is significantly lower than in the US or Western Europe.

Here’s a table with Disney+ average revenue per user since December 2019:

Date Average revenue per user
December 2019 $5.56
March 2020 $5.63
June 2020 $4.62
October 2020 $4.52
January 2021 $4.03

Source: Disney.

Disney+ subscriber retention rate

78% of Disney+ Bundle subscribers retain their subscriptions after 6 months. In fact, the Disney+ Bundle has the highest 6-month customer retention rate of all major streaming services.

Among monthly subscribers to the basic Disney+ package (without access to Hulu and ESPN+), 74% continue to pay for the service after 6 months. This is comparable with competitors: Netflix also has a 74% retention rate, while Hulu retains 67% of customers after 6 months.

Source: Second Measure.

Are monthly or annual subscriptions more popular on Disney+?

20% of new Disney+ subscribers choose an annual plan ($69.99, as of January 2021). The remaining 80% of new sign-ups opt for monthly billing, at a price of $6.99.

The share of subscribers going for annual billing has increased in recent months, up from 12% in October 2020.

We’ve charted the relative popularity of Disney+ payment plans since October 2020:

Note: Data is for the US only.
Date Monthly, annual share
October 2020 88%, 12%
November 2020 81%, 19%
December 2020 80%, 20%
January 2021 80%, 20%

Source: ANTENNA.

Disney+ share of SVOD streaming

Among top subscription video on demand providers in the US, Disney+ accounts for 6% of all streaming. That’s up from 5% in the previous quarter (Q3 2020).

Source: Reelgood.

Disney+ market share of SVOD sign-ups

Disney+ claimed 13% of all new subscription video on demand sign-ups in January 2021 (including free trials). In the previous month, the platform accounted for 19% of total SVOD sign-ups.

Here’s a table with the Disney+ share of monthly SVOD sign-ups since July 2020:

Note: Data is for the US only.
Date Market share of sign-ups
July 2020 27%
August 2020 13%
September 2020 13%
October 2020 13%
November 2020 16%
December 2020 19%
January 2021 13%

Source: ANTENNA.

Disney+ market share of subscriptions

Disney+ accounts for 18% of US subscriptions to video on demand services. The platform has increased its market share in the last year, up from 15% in the final quarter of 2019.

Ranked by the share of subscriptions in the US, Disney+ is the 3rd most popular subscription video streaming service. Only Hulu (20%) and Netflix (34%) possess more of the market.

The below table shows the growth of the Disney+ market share over time:

Date Share of US subscriptions
Q4 2019 15%
Q1 2020 16%
Q2 2020 17%
Q3 2020 17%
Q4 2020 18%

Source: ANTENNA.

Disney+ share of net subscriber additions

In 2020, Disney+ claimed 32% of all net subscriber additions among major subscription video streaming platforms. No other platform added more net subscribers. HBO Max contributed the next most net subscriber additions, accounting for 22% of total net additions.

Source: ANTENNA.

Disney+ gender demographics

A February 2021 survey by Morning Consult found that male subscribers make up 52% of the Disney+ customer base in the US. The remaining 48% of subscribers are female.

Among new US Disney+ subscribers in October 2020, 57% were female.

Source: Morning Consult, ANTENNA.

Disney+ age demographics

Combined, Millennials and Generation Z make up 64% of Disney+ subscribers in the US.

Here’s a breakdown of the Disney+ subscriber base in the US by generation:

Generation Share
Generation Z 22%
Millennials 42%
Generation X 23%
Baby boomers 13%

Among Disney+ viewers who signed up for the service during October 2020, 64% were 35 or older.

Here’s a table with the age group breakdown of Disney+ subscribers in the US:

Age group Share
18-26 16%
26-34 20%
35-50 32%
50+ 32%

Sources: Morning Consult, ANTENNA.

Disney+ subscriber political affiliation

Nearly half (44%) of Disney+ subscribers in the US identify as supporters of the Democratic Party. 23% of subscribers are Republicans.

Here’s a table showing political party affiliation among Disney+ subscribers in the US:

Political party Share
Democrats 44%
Independents 33%
Republicans 23%

Source: Morning Consult.

Disney+ subscribers by location

The single largest location demographic among Disney+ users is suburban communities, accounting for 42% of subscribers. People living in urban and suburban areas make up a combined 80% of Disney+ subscribers.

Here’s a table with the breakdown of Disney+ subscribers by location category:

Community Share
Suburban 42%
Urban 38%
Rural 20%

Source: Morning Consult.

Race demographics of Disney+ subscribers

62% of Disney+ subscribers in the US are white. The streaming service has the highest proportion of non-white subscribers among all its major competitors.

We’ve charted the race demographics of Disney+ subscribers in the US:

Race Share
White (non-Hispanic) 62%
Hispanic 25%
Black (non-Hispanic) 8%
Asian, other race or ethnicity 5%

Source: Morning Consult.

Disney+ subscribers by income brackets

77% of Disney+ subscribers in the US make less than $100,000 per year.

Here’s a breakdown of Disney+ subscribers in the US, sorted by annual income:

Annual income Share
Less than $50,000 43%
$50,000 – $100,000 34%
More than $100,000 23%

What share of Disney+ subscribers have children?

35% of American Disney+ subscribers live in households with children. The average across all streaming services is 32%.

Source: ANTENNA.

How many titles are available on Disney+?

Disney+ has 2,012 movies and TV shows in its content library (as of January 2021).

There are 1254 movies on Disney+, accounting for 62.33% of the total catalog. The remaining 758 titles (37.67%) are TV shows.

Source: Ampere Analytics.

How much of the content on Disney+ is exclusive?

89% of content on Disney+ is exclusive (not available on any other US streaming service). That’s the highest share of exclusive content among all major US streaming providers.

For comparison, the Netflix library is made up of 83% exclusive content. 72% of HBO Max content is exclusive.

Source: Reelgood.

What share of original TV shows air on Disney+?

Disney+ claims a 15% share of all original TV shows among subscription video on demand services. Its share has nearly doubled in the last year, up from 8% in January 2020.

Source: Reelgood.

Disney+ app downloads

In February 2021, the Disney+ mobile app was downloaded 10 million times across Android & iOS. 70% of downloads (7 million) came from the Google Play store, while the remaining 30% (3 million) were from the App Store.

In its first year, the Disney+ mobile app was downloaded 100 million times worldwide (excluding India). Most of the downloads came from the US, which accounted for 62 million installs.

Sources: Sensor Tower, Apptopia, Google Play.

Conclusion

That’s all for my list of Disney+ demographics and usage statistics in 2021.

Disney+ has reached 100 million subscribers remarkably quickly, achieving the milestone within 16 months of launch.

The streaming service has plans to rival industry giants like Netflix (which currently still boasts more than double the number of subscribers). It will be interesting to follow the Disney+ story over the coming months and years.

Now I want to hear from you:

Do you have any questions or thoughts about the Disney+ streaming service? How do you think the platform stacks up against competitors?

Don’t hesitate to get in touch via the comments section below.

The post Disney+ Subscriber Statistics 2021: How Many People Watch Disney+? appeared first on Backlinko.

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