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Disney is flexing its muscles as one of the industry leaders in live streaming content. On Wednesday at the CES Conference in Vegas, Disney executives announced that the company has 157 million monthly active users globally watching streaming shows with advertisements.
That’s 157 million people who have ad-based subscriptions around the world via Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, an impressive figure. It’s unclear how many of those subscribers come from India and Disney’s Hotstar service, but two-thirds come from the U.S., and Disney in its most recent earnings report revealed it ended the quarter with 174 million subscribers to the Core Disney+ service (U.S. and Canada) and to Hulu combined, so a sizable chunk in all.
“These are real viewers who are actively watching, loving, and sharing the content we create,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s President of Global Advertising, during the Disney Global Tech & Data Showcase.
By comparison, Netflix reported in November that it has 70 million MAUs on its ad-supported plan, though that number surely went up in the wake of its Tyson-Paul fight, the two NFL Christmas games, the return of “Squid Game,” and the arrival of WWE’s “Monday Night RAW.” Disney on Wednesday did make a vague swipe at Netflix and other competitors streaming live events — and how crummy of an experience it is when you have to deal with buffering, pixelation, or a delay that can be spoiled with a notification before your stream gets there.
Part of Disney’s selling point to the CES crowd is that it has made different platforms and services available in one place through its bundles. ESPN+ became available through Hulu, and last year, Hulu launched as a tile on Disney+, which the executives said on stage has now surpassed 1 billion hours in viewing since launch. It also just added ESPN and ABC News Live on Disney+.
Up next, Disney is trying to launch its own streaming service for ESPN. Turns out internally, Disney is calling that project “Flagship.” Cool. “Flagship” will combine commerce, betting, and fantasy as part of a personalized experience. CEO Bob Iger said the service hopes to launch by fall 2025.
In the meantime, Disney made a splash this week by settling its lawsuit with Fubo over its joint venture sports streaming service Venu and bought a big share of Fubo to combine it with Hulu + Live TV, though both services will remain separate entities.
English (US) ·