Disney+ Adds 12.4M Subscribers in Q3 2021 For 116M Subscribers, Beating Investors’ Estimates

Disney+ added 12.4 million subscribers in Q3 2021 for a total of 116 million overall, up from 103.6 million last quarter. This is more than double the 57.5 million subscribers they had at the same time last year.

Disney handily beat investor estimates, which had expected 113.1 million subscribers prior to the announcement.

The continued release of Marvel shows like “Loki” has provided a steady stream of content, while a combination of Premier Access blockbusters and complementary new Pixar titles kept movie fans satisfied.

However, the average monthly revenue per subscriber has declined from $4.62 to $4.16 as they have launched their Disney+ Hotstar product in lower cost markets like India (April 2020), Indonesia (September 2020), Malaysia (June 2021). Disney said that Disney+ Hotstar makes up under 40% of Disney+ subscribers, meaning that there are over 70 million subscribers outside of those markets.

Today, Disney announced it would delay its price hikes for some subscribers for certain most EU markets for a few extra months this year.

The chase continues for Disney+, which draws closer to Netflix’s 209 million global subscriber number. In its most recent quarter, Netflix actually lost 400,000 subscribers in North America, with all of its growth coming internationally. Netflix has roughly 74 million paying subscribers domestically. HBO Max and HBO reach 47 million subscribers, but that number importantly includes linear subscriptions. Remember that Hulu and HBO Max also offer an ad-supported tier, which certainly boosts their numbers.

During the first half of 2021, Disney has released four motion pictures in theaters while simultaneously releasing them on Disney+ as Premier Access titles. Under that designation, the films are made available to Disney+ subscribers for an additional $29.99 for each movie. The films were Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella, Black Widow, and Jungle Cruise.

The gains from Premier Access have not come without controversy.

Last month, the Premier Access release strategy was cited as the primary reason behind a lawsuit brought by Black Widow star Scarlett Johannson against The Walt Disney Company. The suit alleges Disney breached Johansson’s contract when Black Widow was released on Disney+ through its Premier Access option at the same time as its theatrical release.

Disney said Marvel’s Black Widow grossed $215M globally during its opening weekend, including $80M at the domestic box office, $78M at the international box, and over $60M in Disney+ Premier Access sales. However, the film’s theatrical performance plummeted the following week, marking one of the largest fall-offs in the history of films related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In comparison, Jungle Cruise opened to an estimated total of more than $90M globally, including $34.2M in domestic box office, $27.6M in international box office, and $30M in Premier Access sales.

For now, Disney has not announced plans for further Premier Access releases through the remainder of 2021. However, with the increase in hospitalizations nationwide due to the Delta COVID variant, and increased calls for increased masking and potential closures of institutions across the nation, this may change at a moment’s notice. Rival WarnerMedia still has several tentpole titles set for day-and-date theatrical/streaming distribution through the remaining months of 2021, including highly anticipated films like Dune and The Matrix 4.