As more and more people are isolated in their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic, subscriptions for Disney+ are soaring through the roof, more than tripling from this time last week. It should come as little surprise that audiences are flocking to streaming services, with movie theaters closing worldwide and public spaces being restricted to very small groups - streaming services are one of the last vestiges of entertainment to keep people occupied during the long days. Disney+ has an even greater advantage than most, with a plethora of family-friendly content.
Disney+ launched in November with the complete catalog of The Simpsons, The Mandalorian and the promise of future Marvel television shows (which may take longer to come to fruition than expected). But it also came with almost all of the animated films to ever come out of Disney, giving families the opportunity to share in watching new and old classic films. The service likely received an even bigger public relations (and monetary) boost when they accelerated the release of Frozen 2 to Disney+ on March 15, months ahead of schedule and explicitly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Forbes reports that Disney+ is tripling their subscription numbers from a week ago. From March 14 to March 16, the service obtained three times the amount of subscriptions as they did from March 7 to March 9, which was prior to when people began to self-isolate en masse to slow the spread of the virus and prior to when schools around the country had closed. Meanwhile, Apple only saw a 10 percent increase in that same span, the lowest increase among any of the streaming services.
Some of the numbers - which come courtesy of streaming analytics firm Antenna - have to be taken with a grain of salt. For instance, the numbers for each service include people signing up for free trials. So while the subscription numbers may rise, the retention numbers would be just as interesting to look at after a free trial period closes (seven days for Disney+). Additionally, it would be challenging for established streaming services like Hulu and Netflix to triple their subscription numbers in any given week, considering how ubiquitous they are across households.
Nevertheless, Disney+ has positioned themselves well as a destination for a audiences seeking a new source of entertainment during these trying times. With the rest of the Disney corporation essentially frozen by production delays and theme park closures, it's a vital time for Disney+ to emerge as a leader in the streaming marketplace.
Source: Forbes