Disney+ now has more than 100 million subscribers, reaching the milestone in just 16 months, the company announced today during its annual shareholders meeting.
That's up from 94.9 million paid global subscribers announced for the end of the company's fiscal Q1 2021.
“The enormous success of Disney+ —which has now surpassed 100 million subscribers—has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Mr. Chapek said. “In fact, we set a target of 100+ 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.”
The announcement comes amid another wave of expansion for Disney+ in Europe and South America, and with the new Star brand in tow. The latter brings a new range of content that those of us in the United States would find on Hulu. (And in South America it'll come with live football as well.)
All that new content has led to another shift in pricing, however. Europe just got its taste of a slightly higher subscription fee, and the United States will see its rates go up $1 a month starting on March 26. That's true for the standalone Disney+ subscription, as well as the Disney+. The former will now cost $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year, and the bundle will go for $13.99 a month.
Disney+ launched in the United States on Nov. 12, 2019, and quickly spread through Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, and most recently, Singapore.
Disney+ is home to all things Disney, of course, we well as Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and National Geographic.
It's also employed the "Disney+ Premier Access" program, which allows Disney to generation additional revenue by placing high-profile titles behind an additional paywall for early access before the films enter the general streaming population. Only two films have been under that scheme thus far — the live-action remake of Mulan, and the more recent Raya and the Last Dragon.
