KOLKATA: In the last one year, the direct-to-consumer (d2c) segment has been prioritised by The Walt Disney Company more than ever before, and it has yielded results for the media giant. Its d2c streaming platform Disney+ has surpassed 100 million subscribers, Disney CEO Bob Chapek stated during its annual meeting of shareholders.
“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,” Chapek said.
Disney+ was launched in November 2019 and has reached the impressive 100-million mark in 16 months. He also noted that the incredible success of the streaming platform in its first year prompted them to accelerate their pivot to d2c first business model. In fact, at the peak of the pandemic, the company reorganised its media and entertainment businesses – separating content creation from distribution – to boost d2c growth strategy.
Further, Chapek has revealed that the mouse house has set a target of 100+ new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live-Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. While the d2c business is the company’s top priority, the robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth, he added.
Disney+ launched the general entertainment brand Star on 23 February in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Western Europe. As Chapek shared, the response has been overwhelmingly positive in all the markets. Moreover, the company will drop an exclusive Star+ service in Latin America this summer, as well as Disney+ including Star in other European markets.
Disney+ Hotstar has also seen rapid growth in India. While India is expected to remain a major growth driver for overall Disney+, the rebranded Disney+ Hotstar is projected to end 2021 with more than 50 million subscribers, a recent Media Partners Asia (MPA) report stated.
Chapek had expressed his confidence at a recent conference that Hotstar would scale from 30 million to 100 million paid subs by 2024, pointing out to the investment in programming that the company is making.
