News broke this week that Disney+ has gained another million subscribers between February and July this year. Despite that fantastic gain, however, a look at the holistic picture suggests their overall growth may have plateaued. BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment lawyer Los Angeles takes a look at the details.
Hitting 110 million subscribers overall as of July, with 38 million in North America, is no mean feat. Nor is adding 1 million domestic subscribers and 12 million Indian subscribers in 6 months. Yet there are already murmurs about the slowing in North America growth.
For starters, although those 12 million subs represent a dominant market presence, they also represent approximately $0.45 subscription costs a month, vs the US $8. Likewise, some have raised concerns about the content being produced vs the cost of the service in the Western World at the moment. There’s been little new content added, with most of the service pulling from library content. Of course, it’s highly unlikely we will reach a time where Disney’s staple hits do not pull an audience, given its iconic grasp on childhood for so many. And there have been some breakaway hits like The Mandalorian and WandaVision. Yet both Netflix and HBO max have a greater focus on new content.
All the same, strong subscriber growth, even if slowed, is hardly something to worry over. Disney currently still stands by its prediction of 230 million subscribers by 2024 and there's nothing to indicate it won’t reach that. However, after the first flush of growth inspired by global events and the accelerated digital revolution, we could be looking at a point where Disney+, as with so many streamers, need to focus on widening their international strategy and developing strong rosters of original release with the sparkling shine of newness to draw in more interest. It’s crunch time for streamers, and we will see who has the chops to survive going forward. While the Disney machine is almost guaranteed to be among them, BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Attorney Los Angeles will be watching the industry with interest.
Brandon Blake- Managing Partent at Blake & Wang P.A.
