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Summary
- At the latest Investor Day presentation, Walt Disney Company has said that it has more than 137 million paid subscribers in its direct-to-customer service offering
- The company now plans to raise its subscriber base to 300 to 500 million by 2024 and multiply its content creation
- Over the past few months, online streaming media has seen a massive growth with most global media houses increasingly putting their content on the online platform
Walt Disney Company, one of the largest global media companies, has come out with an ambitious plan for its future online media streaming business. The company, which has got a tremendous success with its current subscription crossing 137 million, has decided to offer its popular TV shows on the digital platform to garner larger viewership.
With high demand due to the pandemic, online streaming services are being increasingly preferred by people. Most of Walt Disney’s top brands -- Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and international brands like Star and Disney+ Hotstar -- have seen tremendous success in recent times. At present, Disney+ has a subscriber base of 86.8 million, Hulu has 38.8 million, while ESPN+ boasts of 11.5 million subscribers.
Company officials said that it is now expecting to hit 300-350 million total online subscriptions by fiscal 2024 because of heightened demand. It is expecting Disney+ alone to have more than 100 titles per year.
Besides, the media house is focusing on quality content creation. It is coming up with hundreds of new titles soon as per the viewers’ choice. Plans are also afoot to launch regional content to expand its reach.
Evolution of online streaming media
Over the past few years with wider availability of the internet, there is a higher consumption of videos and online streaming content. Due to lack of time and busy schedules, people nowadays are more keen on watching web series and movies online, hence the market for content-on-demand is on the rise. Moreover, delivering online content makes the work of content creators easier.
YouTube is a prominent example of a successful online media delivery business model. Even though the outbreak of the pandemic has fast-paced the growth of inline-streaming, but there is more scope for its growth in times to come, feel the industry experts.
New streaming platform
After getting success from Disney+ Hotstar in India and Indonesia, the company has now decided to launch similar platforms international entertainment content brand Star. The brand is expected to launch its services as an integrated part of Disney + in Europe and other international markets on February 23.
Share price performance
(Source- Refinitiv Thomson Reuters)
The shares of Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) were trading at $154.69 per share on 10 December, gaining 0.17 per cent over the previous day’s close.
