Disney Shares How Many Users Have Opted For Its Ad-Supported Streaming Services
Once upon a time, there was a belief that streaming services could stay afloat through the power of their content libraries and the number of their subscribers.
Following in the footsteps of Netflix, when Disney+ launched in 2019, it was an ad-free experience. The goal for the streamer, then, was to get as many people to sign up as possible.
(Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
To that end, Disney spent billions establishing Disney+ as a flagship streamer and driving new customers to sign up. They also lost billions.
A Change in Strategy
As the streaming wars heated up, it became clear that streamers could not churn a profit without advertising. While heavy hitters like Apple, Disney, and HBO operated their streaming services at a significant loss, smaller streamers such as Pluto and Tubi turned to advertising, not subscription fees, to turn a profit.
Disney and other streamers quickly took notice. In December 2022, Disney introduced the new ad-supported version of Disney+. Still, they seemed ambivalent as to whether users opted for the pricer ad-free tier or the cheaper ad-supported subscription.
Photo: Disney+
Over the last two-plus years, however, that has drastically changed. Disney has subsequently made efforts to drive users to the ad-based tier of Disney+ through price increases, bundle options, and advertisements of their own.
The shift in strategy has paid dividends.
Disney’s Ad-Based Streaming Services Have Proven to Be Winners
After losing billions of dollars for years, Disney+ finally turned a profit in Q3 of 2024, a full quarter before Bob Iger promised investors that Disney would reach that mark.
(Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Disney)
Now, for the first time ever, Disney has given investors and analysts a peek behind the curtain of its streaming business and revealed that they have 157 million global monthly users subscribed to its ad-supported streaming service. That number spans Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Of the 157 million users, 112 million are in the United States.
Photo: Deadline
“Disney sits at the intersection of world class sports and entertainment content, with the most high-value audiences in ad-supported global streaming at scale,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, in a news release. “We wanted to be the first to offer our industry greater transparency into the methodology used to estimate our engaged global ad-supported monthly active users.”
The Path Forward
According to Disney, the 157 million number was calculated by adding up active accounts that have viewed ad-support shows and movies continuously for more than 10 seconds.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Last November, Disney announced that it had 200.3 million subscribers across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, independent of Disney+Hotstar. That would mean that a preponderance of users are opting for the ad-supported tiers of the streaming services.
Photo: CNN
As Disney continues to transform streaming into a growth business, it is clear that ad-supported streaming services are the way forward.
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