Coronavirus puts Disney+ on track to being the second-biggest streaming service
Disney+ projected to reach 200+ million subscribers in five years, according to Digital TV Research
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Disney+ is likely to reach 202 million subscribers by 2025, according to a revised forecast by Digital TV Research – a business intelligence company for the television industry.
STREAMING SERVICES BY THE NUMBERS
Previous estimates were 101 million subscribers for the streaming service’s initial launch in November and then 126 million after a first revision in February.
"We have completely revised our forecasts for 138 countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic," wrote analyst Simon Murray in Digital TV’s forecast, which was released Monday. "A major impact of lockdown has been a steep rise in SVOD subscriptions.”
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Before the coronavirus became a global pandemic, Amazon Prime Video was ranked higher than Disney+ in terms of 2025 subscriber trajectory, according to Digital TV’s prior estimates. The e-ommerce-aligned streaming service is currently estimated to reach 141 million subscribers, which is up from 134 million in its last forecast.
This change is subscribership estimates stems from Disney+ having reached 50 million subscribers in April.
Netflix, which still ranks number one, is likely to reach anywhere between 238 million and 258 million by 2025, according to the forecast.
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Streaming newcomers Apple TV+ and HBO Max (launching May 27) are projected to reach more than 12 million subscribers in the same timeframe. Digital TV’s up-to-date estimates for the two streaming services are 14 million and 25 million, respectively, which are downgraded from 26 million and 30 million.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 113.97 | +0.22 | +0.19% |
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 555.12 | -22.39 | -3.88% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 176.59 | -2.92 | -1.63% |
| T | AT&T INC. | 16.81 | +0.30 | +1.85% |
| APPL | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
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The top five streaming services will account for 640 million paid subscribers if Digital TV’s estimates are correct for 2025.
Globally, there is a projected 1.16 billion subscribers across streaming platforms overall, the current forecast states.
