Disney+ growth misses expectations
This week Disney announced that Disney+ reached 118.1 million subscribers as of the quarter-end, an increase of about 2 million subs. However, this growth is slower than expected and missed Wall Street estimates of approximately 126 million subscribers. COVID-related production delays were partly to blame affecting the pipeline of available content.
The NPD Take:
- Acquiring new subscribers is hard, keeping them around is even harder. A constant supply of new content is necessary to keep people interested and engaged.
- Disney+’s subscriber slowdown is likely a trend we will continue to see as consumers go back to pre-pandemic lifestyles. Overall, the streaming market has hit maturity and streaming services may need to shift focus toward retention in addition to acquisition.
FuboTV reaches one million subscribers
After reaching just under one million subs at September quarter end, FuboTV added another 55K customers since then to put it over the million sub mark. FuboTV is on track to nearly double its overall customer base by the end of year compared to 2020. The service is continuing to show an operating loss of $103M as of September, however, even that is showing improvement quarter over quarter.
The NPD Take:
- The continued growth of FuboTV indicates there is still a place for linear television and vMVPDs.
- Having the right mix of content and price is key to keeping consumers interested in linear subscriptions to supplement their other streaming services.
Curiosity Stream subscriber growth slows down
Curiosity Stream’s third quarter subscriber growth leveled off as September counts were on par with August. Despite, slowing trends month over month and quarter over quarter, overall subscriber figures were up 43% compared to a year ago, which still indicates interest in the factual-based content available on Curiosity Stream.
The NPD Take:
- We may have reached peak subscription levels as customers settle into their viewing habits and rationalize their services.
- Niche services like Curiosity Stream will find it increasingly difficult to post large subscriber gains on their own and will likely need to seek out other distribution partners for bundled offerings to drive growth.