Disney+ has experienced remarkable growth since its launch in November 2019, reaching around 125 million global subscribers in the first quarter of 2025. The streaming service's rapid ascent is particularly noteworthy given that it took Netflix, the current market leader, about a decade to achieve similar customer numbers in a less competitive landscape. Disney's biggest streaming competitor Despite its impressive subscriber base, Disney+ faces stiff competition in the streaming market, particularly among younger viewers. As of October 2023, Netflix remained the most-watched subscription video-on-demand service among U.S. children, capturing 34 percent of the audience, with Disney+ following at 31 percent. To address profitability challenges and retain customers, Disney has implemented strategies such as introducing extra member pricing in various countries, with costs ranging from 3.58 U.S. dollars in Hong Kong to 6.67 U.S. dollars in Italy. Market adaptation In response to the evolving streaming landscape, Disney has adjusted its pricing strategy. In late 2024, the company once again increased its monthly subscription prices for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ in the United States. This move followed significant improvements in the provider's direct-to-consumer streaming segment, with operating losses decreasing substantially between 2022 and 2024. Disney's DTC entertainment business, for example, reported an income of about 143 million U.S. dollars in 2024 after years of making losses, demonstrating that Disney's efforts to achieve profitability seemed to have paid off.

While the number of UK households subscribing to Disney+ steadily increased between 2021 and 2022, Disney's subscription-based streaming offer has recently struggled to retain customers. In the first quarter of 2025, *** million UK households subscribed to the platform, marking a decline from the previous quarter.

The Walt Disney Company announced that its sports streaming service ESPN+ had around 24.9 million U.S. subscribers at the end of its first fiscal quarter of 2025. This marks a decrease of 300,000 customers compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

In 2023, the video-on-demand platform with the most subscribers in Finland was Netflix, with an estimated number of one million subscribers. Disney Plus counted with 600 thousand estimated subscribers, while HBO Max with 450 thousand.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Walt Disney Company reported that Hulu had 53.6 million paid subscribers, up from 49.7 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. Hulu has several pricing plans to cater to varying consumer preferences, with the most basic option including ads costing 9.99 dollars per month and the priciest monthly subscription package fixed at 18.99 dollars (without ads) as of October 2024. In addition to that, many bundle options are available, including access to live TV, as well as to Disney+ and ESPN+. What is Hulu best known for? Hulu is often best known for the dystopian TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name or the comedy mystery series “Only Murders in the Building,” starring Selena Gomez. The shows have received a significant amount of media attention since their releases, and were among the TV shows with the highest amount of Emmy Awards nominations in the last few years. Hulu's history Content aside, Hulu’s past dealings with other media companies have also been a frequent point of discussion. The company was founded in 2007 and its board has included American investment firms as well as representatives from stakeholders Disney, Fox, and Comcast. A lot changed in early 2019 when The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, a deal which generated enormous online buzz and which gave Disney a 60 percent majority stake in Hulu. Shortly afterwards, multinational conglomerate AT&T sold back its 10 percent stake to Disney. Finally, Disney announced in November 2023 to purchase Comcast's 33 percent stake in Hulu. Disney’s newest streaming service, Disney+, is available as part of a bundle including ESPN+ (for sports fans) and of course, Hulu, which will cater to more mature audiences whilst Disney+ takes care of the family-friendly content.

Netflix's global subscriber base has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing *** million paid subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2024. This marks a significant increase of nearly ** million subscribers compared to the previous quarter, solidifying Netflix's position as a dominant force in the streaming industry. Adapting to customer losses Netflix's growth has not always been consistent. During the first half of 2022, the streaming giant lost over *** million customers. In response to these losses, Netflix introduced an ad-supported tier in November of that same year. This strategic move has paid off, with the lower-cost plan attracting ** million monthly active users globally by November 2024, demonstrating Netflix's ability to adapt to changing market conditions and consumer preferences. Global expansion Netflix continues to focus on international markets, with a forecast suggesting that the Asia Pacific region is expected to see the most substantial growth in the upcoming years, potentially reaching around **** million subscribers by 2029. To correspond to the needs of the non-American target group, the company has heavily invested in international content in recent years, with Korean, Spanish, and Japanese being the most watched non-English content languages on the platform.

By 2027, it is expected that the gross number of SVOD subscriptions will reach *** million in the United States. Netflix will have nearly ** million subscribers in the country alone. However, Amazon competed with Netflix for the most American subscribers and, according to the forecast, it will surpass Netflix, reaching over *** subscriptions by 2027. Meanwhile, Disney Plus, stylized as Disney+, is expected to accumulate about **** million subscriptions.

Disney Plus enjoyed significant success in terms of individual subscribers in Australia during its initial launch period, attracting nearly three million subscribers in late 2020 and nearly equalling Amazon Prime subscriber numbers. Elsewhere, Netflix had 14.17 million subscribers and Foxtel had 7.75 million. Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic boosted subscriber numbers to all services during 2020.

Multiple subscriptions becoming more popular

More and more Australian adults are subscribing to multiple video streaming services. In 2019, a survey revealed that 3.46 million adults were subscribed to both Netflix and Stan, and a similar number had Netflix and Foxtel accounts. Industry newcomer Disney Plus was most often combined with Netflix; 1.86 million adults had subscriptions to both services.

Netflix remains Australia’s most popular video streaming service, with 11.26 million households having a subscription to the service in 2019. By comparison, Foxtel (including the Kayo sports service) had 4.94 million households subscribed, and Stan had 2.61 million.

Video streaming consumption

Television consumption is shifting further away from traditional network television in Australia. A 2020 survey revealed that 51 percent of respondents thought it was more likely that they would watch TV from a streaming service than from traditional TV channels.

Over the course of an average week in the first quarter of 2018, 40 percent of Australians said they had used Netflix. This is more than double the average weekly use of Foxtel services; 16 percent of respondents to the same survey said they used either Foxtel Play, Foxtel Go or Foxtel Now in an average week.

The number of Disney+ real users in Poland fluctuated in the observed period. The highest number of RU was recorded in December 2022, reaching over *** million. In December 2024, Disney+ had more than **** million real users.

In January 2022, the Disney + app generated more than **** million U.S. dollars in net revenue in nine Latin American countries. Brazil alone accounted for about **** million dollars – or ** percent – of the regional revenue. Chile followed with nearly **** million dollars – or ** percent of the net revenue the Disney+ app generated in the nine countries listed. The number of Disney+ subscriptions in Latin America was forecast to skyrocket by over *** percent between 2021 and 2026.

Among the leading video-on-demand providers, Amazon Prime has the highest number of titles on offer in the United Kingdom (UK) as of December 2024. In total, it offered over ****** titles, compared to Netflix’s *****. However, Netflix is the service with the most TV shows on offer, while movies is where Amazon Prime stands out with over ****** titles compared to Netflix’s ***** films. Netflix dominates the video-on-demand market Despite Amazon Prime’s large media library, Netflix has remained the better performing video-on-demand service in the United Kingdom. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the platform had around **** million subscribers, while Amazon Prime had **** million. Having emerged in 1997 as the world’s first entertainment streaming service, Netflix has managed to stay ahead of its competitors. Today, its strength lies in its original series content, many of which have gathered worldwide acclaim. Indeed, the platform regularly dominates the ranking of popular streaming shows in the UK. Pricing and quality strategies Despite the vast content libraries, streaming services face significant challenges, and content alone may not guarantee retention. A 2024 survey revealed that rising prices was the primary reason for over ** percent of UK consumers to cancel streaming subscriptions. In fact, as competition intensifies, providers are adjusting their strategies, with plans to not only reduce content spending but also to grow their subscription fees. As the market matures, streaming platforms are likely to focus more on targeted, high-quality content rather than sheer amount to maintain their competitive edge and subscriber base.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Amazon Prime Video was the most popular subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in the United States with a market share of ** percent, based on the users' interest in adding content to their watch lists of certain streaming platforms. Netflix followed closely with a market share of ** percent. Subscription streaming market – a money-losing business? While subscription streaming platforms increased their subscriber bases in the years 2020 and 2021 due to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 and 2023 saw services such as Netflix and Disney+ lose a substantial number of customers. Furthermore, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses of large media companies are struggling to turn a profit. Paramount, for example, reported a loss of *** billion U.S. dollars for its streaming services in 2023. Streaming companies take action In order to compensate for subscriber and income losses, streaming companies implemented several strategies, such as launching more profitable ad-supported tiers, cracking down on credential sharing, laying off thousands of employees, and spending less on content. The Walt Disney Company was already able to increase DTC profits recently. Its cost-cutting measures include layoffs and savings in content spending by reducing content produced and removing TV shows and movies from its streaming services.

According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in June 2024, Netflix was the most used subscription video on demand (SvoD) service in the Philippines, as stated by ** percent of respondents. Disney+ and Viu were also among the most used SvoD service in the country.

Netflix is forecast to have close to ************* subscribers in Africa by the end of 2029, and thus, it is by far the most popular SVOD platform on the continent. Showmax is expected to be the second most popular SVOD service in Africa, with a projected number of subscribers of around *********** in 2029.

The number of Australians with a membership to a subscription video on demand (SVoD) service has seen steady growth since 2013. According to a 2021 survey on media consumption, SVoD household penetration reached ** percent. Video streaming service subscriptions In 2019, Netflix was Australia’s most popular SVoD service, with ***** million households saying they had a subscription to the service. Foxtel, including Kayo sports, had **** million households subscribed to its service, and **** million households were subscribed to Stan. Notably, there has been an increase in the number of consumers with subscriptions to more than one SVoD service. In a recent survey, **** million consumers said they were subscribed to both Netflix and Stan. Moreover, *** million said they had accounts with both Netflix and Foxtel, and industry newcomer Disney Plus was often paired with Netflix; **** million said they had subscriptions to both services. Disney Plus and video streaming consumption Whilst in its initial launch phase, Disney Plus has seen unprecedented success in Australia. It attracted *** million subscribers during the early part of 2020, surpassing the number of both Amazon Prime and YouTube Premium subscribers. Australia’s most successful video streaming services were Netflix and Foxtel (including Kayo sports), who had **** million and **** million subscribers respectively as of February 2020. In the first quarter of 2018, Netflix proved to be the most accessed SVoD service; ** percent said they accessed the service over the course of an average week. By comparison, ** percent accessed Foxtel services and *** percent said they had accessed Stan, and just *** percent had accessed Amazon Prime.

As of the first quarter of 2024, the leading streaming service in the Philippines was Netflix, dominating the market with a ** percent share. Netflix was followed by iflix, with a ** percent market share. Video streaming: a growing market in the Philippines Since 2017, there has been steady growth in both the penetration rate and revenue of video streaming services in the country, and this upward trend was forecast to continue for several more years. Adoption of video streaming platforms were boosted by an increasing demand for both local and international shows and video content, usually because of the ability to stream them for numerous hours. Netflix trending throughout Southeast Asia The number of Netflix subscribers in Southeast Asia has increased substantially recently, followed by growth in the company’s revenue in the region. As the number of pay-TV subscriptions is expected to increase in various Asian countries in the near future, streaming services such as Netflix will likely continue their upward trend.