Disney announced Thursday that its streaming platform had exceeded 94.9 million subscribers. The company announced the number as part of its earnings report for the December quarter. The company’s stock rose about 2% after hours on the news.
Disney + surpassed the company’s original subscriber target of 60 to 90 million by November 2024, forcing it to rewrite. The company now expects Disney + to have 230 to 260 million subscribers by 2024.
Disney has seen rapid subscriber growth since its launch in November 2019. On day one, the company had 10 million signups and by the end of the first quarter the service had gained 26.5 million subscribers.
As the pandemic continued to rage and keep consumers indoors, Disney + jumped from 33.5 million subscribers in the second quarter to 57.5 million in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the company topped 73.7 million subscribers. Disney updated that number on its December Investor Day, stating that the service had reached 86.6 million subscribers.
Disney does not split the number of subscribers who individually signed up for the service versus those who came to the service through bundles or one-time promotions.
Those strong subscriber numbers come as Disney has pushed heavily into streaming. In October, the company began restructuring its media and entertainment departments to focus more on Disney +.
In December, Disney shared plans for around 100 film and television projects, around 80% to go directly to Disney +. This includes nearly a dozen Marvel series and more than 10 Star Wars shows.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story and in the headline, comments from Christine McCarthy, the company’s chief financial officer, regarding Disney’s plans to disclose future Disney + subscription numbers were misrecognized. In fact, the company plans to provide updates to subscriber numbers at the end of each quarter. Additional updates to attendee numbers may not be provided at the time of winning calls.
