A new report from Digital TV Research forecasts that Disney Plus will become the world’s largest SVoD player by 2025, surpassing Netflix in the volume of subscriber numbers.
According to the report, Disney Plus will add 140 million subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to a total of 284 million, while approximately 121 million of its subscribers (43 per cent) in 2026 will be in the 13 Asian countries under the Hotstar brand.
Netflix is forecasted to increase by 53 million subscribers to reach 271 million by 2026.
- Analyst: German SVoD subs to overtake UK
- Disney Plus has hit some headwinds, says CEO
- Sky planning own smart TV to take on the streamers
Overall, the report forecasts that global SVoD subscriptions will increase by 491 million between 2021 and 2026 to reach 1.64 billion. China and the US will together account for 49 per cent of the global total by 2026, down from 56 per cent in 2021.
Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, explained that “China and the US had a similar number of subscriptions by end-2020. Due to government pressure, China’s growth is decelerating, with 354 million subscriptions expected by 2026. The US will continue to grow, with 450 million subscriptions expected by 2026.”
Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently warned that the streaming service has “hit some headwinds” during its fourth quarter, and that the company now expects to add “low single-digit millions” of streaming subscribers in Q4.