Disney has announced that its Disney+ streaming service rebounded in the second calendar quarter of this year, pulling in 12.4 million net new subscribers to stand at 116 million worldwide as of July 3rd.
That number has beaten analyst targets and follows in the wake of missed expectations for the first quarter of the year, along with being the first period to fully reflect the Disney+ price hikes earlier this spring.
Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer revenue for the quarter jumped 57%, to $4.3 billion. Combined with Hulu and ESPN+, Disney’s three SVOD services had 173.7 million total customers as of July – up from 101.5 million this time last year.
The announcement tied to an earnings call earlier this week with Disney CEO Bob Chapek who also referred to the upcoming release strategy of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as an “interesting experiment”.
That film’s star Simu Liu took to social media to respond to that comment saying on Instagram:
“We are not an ‘interesting experiment’. We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f—- up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US.”
That film is going theatrical exclusively for 45 days from early September, before arriving on the Disney+ service in late October at no extra charge. No plans for a Disney+ Premier Access release at this time.
Source: Variety