Disney Plus Tops 100 Million Subscribers Worldwide
Disney Plus continues to grow apace, topping 100 million subscribers worldwide, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said Tuesday during its annual shareholders meeting. That’s up from the 94.9 million Disney reported last month.
“The enormous success of Disney Plus has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Chapek said. “In fact, we set a target of 100-plus new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Our direct-to-consumer business is the Company’s top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth.”
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The torrid growth of Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming service has helped drive Disney’s stock price to record highs. The stock closed Monday at $201.91, a record for a closing price. Chapek noted that it has been quite a swing from March 2020 when shares hit “a COVID low” of $79.
The success of Disney Plus, which added significant subscribers after its Feb. 23 launch on India’s Star platform, “has inspired us to be even more ambitious (and) significantly increase our investment in high quality content.”
Chapek also said that the ESPN Plus streaming service will be embedded into Hulu in a way that will allow subscribers of both to easily move between platforms. Later in the year, Hulu subscribers will be able to buy pay-per-view events via ESPN Plus even if they are not subscribers to the sports streamer.
More to come
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