Forget The Mandalorian - the real star of Disney+ is Hamilton. 2020 has been a rough year for Hollywood, with the coronavirus pandemic and its associated lockdowns essentially putting the film industry on pause. Streaming services have prospered, however, largely because people have had plenty of spare time to fill. Disney+, which launched in November 2019, arguably couldn't have come out at a better time.
There are two functional metrics for analyzing the performance of streaming services; subscriptions, and retention. When looking at both of them, it is clear that Disney+ has had a good year. Analysts had expected Disney+ to reach 50 million subscribers by 2022, and no doubt Disney would have been delighted by that. Instead, however, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has recently confirmed the streaming service hit 73 million subscribers within its first year. This is particularly impressive given Disney+ still hasn't completed its international rollout.
In order to assess the true performance of Disney+, Screen Rant spoke exclusively to data analytics company Antenna Analytics. They noted that Disney has taken a remarkably experimental approach in their first year, attempting a wide range of different release styles, and commissioning a surprisingly diverse variety of content. The two greatest success stories of Disney+ so far are undeniably The Mandalorian and Hamilton - and the musical was by far the most significant of the two, increasing sign-ups by a stunning 641 percent...
Adapted from Ron Chernow’s 2004 historical biography Alexander Hamilton, the Broadway musical had a powerful message that resonated with popular culture. The biggest issue with the play had always been accessibility, with Hamilton tickets selling for up to $10,000 during the height of its run. Disney+ solved that problem, allowing the entire United States to appreciate a topical and inspiring performance. The Disney+ presentation of Hamilton was actually improved through the addition of captions for the hearing-impaired and Deaf communities, allowing those viewers to enjoy the show as well. Given the tremendous cultural significance of this release, it's frankly no surprise to see how well Hamilton performed for Disney+. Antenna notes this success was perfectly timed for the streaming service because Disney+ had suspended the free trial weeks prior.
Unfortunately, retention wasn't as good for subscribers who signed up seemingly solely for Hamilton, with almost 30 percent of these users canceling within just one month. This likely reflects the fact that, at present, a historical musical like Hamilton is pretty much unique as a content type on Disney+; there's just wasn't anything to make these viewers stick around. In contrast, Antenna did not observe an increase in cancelations after the end of The Mandalorian season 1, suggesting these are the more typical Disney+ subscribers. It's reasonable to assume Disney will seek to increase the number of Broadway musicals on their streaming service, but they may never again have the success they saw with Hamilton; it was a uniquely powerful play in terms of cultural importance, and it may be some time before Broadway matches it, especially in light of the current problems caused by coronavirus.