Disney+ Passes 50 Million Subscribers In First Five Months.

Disney+ Passes 50 Million Subscribers In First Five Months.

Disney+

Disney DIS+ racked up more than 50 million subscribers in its first five months, the company announced Wednesday, passing a milestone that took Netflix NFLX a decade to hit.

The service launched in the U.S. in November and accumulated 10 million subscribers in its first day.

Homebound parents with kids to entertain have flocked to Disney+, according to data from streaming analytics firm Antenna.

Over the past two weeks, Disney rolled out the service in countries under lockdown like Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

Disney+ debuted in India last week, which is also under lockdown because of the coronavirus, accounting for 8 million subscribers alone.

Disney’s stock shot up nearly 7% in after-hours trading on the news.

It’s a big win for Disney at a time when the company needs one. The entertainment giant has been forced to close its theme parks, halt production on new content and delay releases for would-be blockbusters like Mulan and Black Widow. The company announced in March it would raise cash through debt to compensate for the lost revenue. Disney+ may become even more important to the company (and attractive to viewers) if movie theaters remain closed through the summer — Disney is already planning to release Artemis Fowl directly on the service in May.

Disney+ is now the third-biggest subscription-based streamer on the market. Netflix is still king, with 167 million subscribers worldwide, and Amazon AMZN is just behind with 150 million members (though that is linked to its flagship delivery service, rather than just for video). But Netflix and Amazon each took ten years to reach the 50 million subscribers for their services. Plus, Disney controls Hulu, which has more than 30 million subscribers. NBCUniversal is hoping that Peacock, which will have a soft launch this month, has more modest expectations of hitting 30 million subscribers in its first four years.

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