Since the beginning of movie streaming, Netflix has been the industry leader. They basically popularized the concept when they moved their DVDs by mail order to stream movies directly to consumers’ homes. And since the move started in 2007, they have been number one. For some, the word “Netflix” is almost synonymous with streaming, the same way we interchangeably use “network” and “Kleenex.”
But the competition for subscriptions has become fiercer and fiercer in recent years, with many new services all fighting for the same customers, including Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount +, and Disney. And when Disney announced its quarterly earnings results to shareholders this week, it revealed that it has 221.1 million total subscriptions across its various streaming services around the world, including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. At the end of the same quarter, Netflix had 220.7 million subscribers.
Disney also announced that it is raising prices for its streaming service, including a $3 per month increase in the premium Disney+ subscription. (If you want to keep the original price of $7.99, you’ll have to start watching your favorite Marvel and Star Wars shows with commercials.) Not to be outdone, Netflix recently announced that they will be offering a cheaper, ad-supported tier in the future as well .
Those big names — Marvel, Star Wars, plus Pixar and others — can account for how big streaming behemoth Disney is. The biggest brand name associated with Netflix is … Netflix. They have some series that people like, but they don’t have the kind of ongoing franchise that Disney uses to keep customers subscribing month after month, year after year.
Whether Netflix makes any real moves to counteract remains to be seen. By some measures, they’re still leading — Netflix makes more money per subscriber than Disney, and the degree to which people associate Netflix with streaming video should not be underestimated. But the world of streaming is changing rapidly as it grows.
UPDATE: After this story was published, a Netflix publicist said that Disney’s number is for “subscriptions” while Netflix’s number is for “subscriptions” – “meaning 1 person can count as multiple ‘subscriptions’ if they have subscriptions to all 3 services.”
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