Disney+ saw its subscriber base increase by 33% in the year to April 2, with the greatest growth being seen in its international operations.
The latest results published by The Walt Disney Company show that the streaming service had a global total of 137.7 million subscribers, up from 103.6 million on April 3, 2021.
In the US and Canada, the total stood at 44.4 million (+19%), while international operations, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, claimed 43.2 million (+39%) subscribers. Disney+ Hotstar saw its take-up increase by 42% to 50.1 million over the same period.
Disney+ global ARPU as of April 2 stood at $4.35, up 9% on a year earlier.
Walt Disney notes that D2C revenues for the second quarter increased by 23% to $4.9 billion and the operating loss from $0.6 billion to $0.9 billion. The latter was due to higher losses at Disney+ and lower operating income at Hulu.
Speaking in a call accompanying the results, Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that the total D2C subscriber base grew by 9.2 million in the quarter to reach 205 million, with the Disney+ total increasing by 7.9 million.
He also said that almost half of Disney+ subscribers are now adults without kids. Chapek also said that internationally over 500 local original titles for Disney+ are in various stages of development and production, with 180 to premier this fiscal year. Eventually, 300 originals will premier each fiscal year.
Chapek in addition confirmed that Disney+ will launch in 53 new markets across Europe, Africa and West Asia at the end of Q3, starting with South Africa next week. He also spoke of the positive benefits introducing ads in the US at the end of this year and internationally in 2023 will bring.
He confirmed that Disney+ is on track to reach 230-260 million subscribers by fiscal 2024.
