Disney + Hotstar subscribers continue to grow strongly, accounting for nearly 30% of Disney + global subscriber base

Disney + Hotstar subscriber numbers continue to maintain a “strong growth trend”. Paid users of the service make up nearly 30% of Disney + ‘s global subscriber base, The Walt Disney Company said Thursday.

Disney + had 94.9 million subscribers on January 2, 2021. The share of Disney + Hotstar subscribers operating in India and Indonesia is led by India.

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Disney + Hotstar, whose offering of premium sports content has great appeal to many consumers, did see a “surge” in subscriber numbers during the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, said senior executive vice president and chief financial officer Christine McCarthy, The Walt Disney Company, speaking on the company’s Q1FY21 earnings call. Commenting on whether there is a risk of churn when the IPL ends, McCarthy said that while cricket is a very important part of the platform’s programming strategy, the OTT service also offers a whole host of other local content for consumers. like to view. “… we have also made it economical for consumers to sign up for a one-year subscription instead of going monthly. So those are some of the things we’re looking at and using to reduce the churn that you might expect from IPL, ”said McCarthy.

The average monthly revenue per paying subscriber for Disney + Hotstar is significantly lower than that for Disney +. The company said that as a result of the launch of Disney + Hotstar, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney + dropped from $ 5.56 to $ 4.03.
In India, Disney + Hotstar competes with global players Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and a range of homegrown services including Zee5, AltBalaji and Voot Select. Disney had previously said that Disney + Hotstar will be improved with the addition of local programming and the strategy will be to grow with premium content for all. “We believe that content is the biggest driver for not only acquiring but retaining subscriptions,” said McCarthy.

Analysts at Media Partners Asia estimate Indian OTT content investment at $ 700 million in 2020. With budgets for originals and local acquisitions increasing, OTT content costs are expected to grow by a CAGR of 18% to $ 1 between 2020-25. 6 billion.

Speaking of overall consumer engagement with Disney +, McCarthy said, “Every time we post a new piece of content, the engagement for people who know the schedule of releases is quite encouraging. So we think we will reach that pace in the coming years to get content on the service on a weekly basis ”. The company has set a huge goal for more than 100 new titles each year.
Separately, filings from the business intelligence platform Tofler showed that Hotstar’s operating revenues increased 43.16% yoy to Rs 1,593.02 crore in FY20. Total losses fell to Rs 361.89 crore during the year from Rs 554.38 crore in FY19.

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