Disney+ Vastly Exceeds its own Expectations, Achieving 10 Million Subscribers within First Day

Streaming Wars are adding Choices for Consumers

Nobody ever doubted that Disney+ would be a success. From the second that the streaming service was announced, almost everyone knew that the website—which offers nearly every film and TV show in the Walt Disney catalogue—would be an enormous step forward for the company.

When Disney+ finally arrived on Tuesday, however, it did not just meet expectations. It immediately surpassed them, surprising even its parent company in the process. 

Within twenty-four hours of the website’s launch, Disney+ reached over 10 million subscribers. This is a number that many did not expect Disney+ to reach for at least a year. To put it in perspective, Disney+ already has more subscribers than HBO Now, CBS All-Access, and Showtime… all reputable services that have been in existence for several years. Disney+ surpassed each of them in the course of a single day.

Of course, this is reason for the Walt Disney Company to celebrate. Even at the affordable price of $7 per month or $70 per year, Disney+ is bound to be a financial goldmine for the company. 

That being said, not all of the 10 million current subscribers are guaranteed customers. Disney+ offers new members a seven-day free trial, so we can assume that at least a few people will binge for a week and then drop the service once they have to pay. Likewise, Verizon has offered the service for free to some of its users, which could account for some of the people lumped into Disney’s hefty figure. 

Nevertheless, not even the higher-ups at Disney anticipated so many people to subscribe on day one. The website’s initial activity was so intense that it actually overwhelmed the service, leaving many users with Error pages and foreboding screens reading “Unable to Connect to Disney+” accompanied by Disney’s very own Wreck-It-Ralph. Over ten thousand reports of this took place on Tuesday, making many subscribers nervous. Luckily, Disney apologized for the inconvenience and swiftly adapted to the unexpectedly large number of patrons. 

The service has been running smoothly ever since, offering users everything that it advertised. With very few exceptions, the service has every piece of Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar content along with Disney classics, National Geographic shows, and several original programs, most notably “The Mandalorian,” which is the first ever live-action series to take place in the Star Wars universe. 

Do I sound like a Fan? Ok, sorry, you got me

And this is only the beginning! The service promises more originals including “WandaVision,” “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” and “What If…?” under the Marvel banner as well as two more Star Wars series: one focusing on Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequel trilogy and another one focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from “Rogue One.” This is not even to mention all of the original movies, animated content, and pre-released Disney titles that are yet to make their way onto the service. Clearly, the current 10 million subscribers are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

The only ones not celebrating Disney+ right now may be its streaming competitors. While Netflix responded to the Disney’s success with optimism, looking forward to improving their own brand with original content, Amazon, CBS, and other companies of the sort are probably shaking. Likewise, we can imagine that WarnerMedia, Apple, and NBCUniversal, each of whom are about to launch their own streaming services, are sitting on the edges of their seats, fearfully glaring at Disney’s instant accomplishment.

The streaming wars have begun. Many more armies are yet to arrive on the battlefield, but Disney+ has certainly made its presence known. Not even a week into its life, it is striding into combat with confidence, power, and a militia of 10 million soldiers, joyfully armed with a vast inventory of intellectual property that is far from tapped out.

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