157 million Disney subscribers watch with ads

The Street

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and ads don’t seem to bother Disney subscribers.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from New York City. Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04Disney is touting new subscriber numbers for its streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

00:11The entertainment conglomerate says it has 157 million global monthly active users for its ad-supported content.

00:19The bulk of that is coming from the U.S., where 112 million have signed up for the service.

00:25This is the first time Disney has revealed these metrics in detail.

00:29The significance is underscored by the fact Disney chose the annual Consumer Electronics Show for the revelation.

00:36These numbers reveal that as traditional cable TV operators are struggling to hold viewers,

00:42streamers are finding success even with commercials.

00:46But it's not just a simple apples-to-apples comparison.

00:50While traditional media has a standard for counting viewers for advertisers, the streaming industry does not.

00:57Take Disney, for example. That 157 million global number is derived by counting those who watch a program

01:04for at least 10 seconds on Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+.

01:09Disney then multiplies that by how many people it thinks is watching the video on that account.

01:15It counts viewers on all three platforms individually, which means viewers can be double or triple counted.

01:22The number is also averaged over a six-month period.

01:26Despite the complexities, Disney subscriber numbers still show ad-supporting streaming is gaining momentum.

01:33Cost, no doubt, is a major factor.

01:35The price for the Disney ad-free streaming bundle costs $16.99 a month,

01:40compared to the average monthly cable bill, which costs around $100 a month.

01:45That'll do it for your daily briefing.

01:47From New York City, I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.

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