More than a year after the launch of Disney +, a clear success with only 94.9 million global subscribers, Disney has so far reported the least amount of audience data for any major streaming competitor.
Linking the company’s quarterly results today with Wall Street analysts continued the trend of closing, in addition to the set of streaming numbers historically included in quarterly financial reports. But even this disclosure seems to be heading for a notable change.
“Since we are past the year of Disney + launch, we no longer intend to update our DTC subscriber numbers from the dates of our earnings,” said CFO Christine McCarthy. “But we will continue to provide subsidies for the end of the quarter. We can choose to make additional disclosures when we reach certain milestones. “
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Soul, for example, was tracked in the U.S. by Nielsen, and downloads of the Disney + app were monitored by third-party mobile research companies like Sensor Tower, linking it to certain major releases. But Disney offered nothing but a few short adjectives about the Christmas release of Soul, or any other successful Disney + movie or series since it aired in November 2019.
“We are absolutely thrilled with what this has brought to our business,” said CEO Bob Chapek of Soul during the results call, “in terms of acquisition and retention. I would say it was a huge success with our subscriber base. “
Mulan, which was a Premier Access launch last fall with a $ 30 prize for Disney + subscribers, “was a success, as we are also using it in Raya and the Last Dragon,”Chapek said. Next month, Raya will be available as a $ 20 subscriber title, with a free Disney + release following later in the year. He said that “individual decisions” will continue to be made regarding release patterns, based on many variables. Some movies – like, for now, Black Widow – will remain theatrical and the others will go straight to Disney +. Some titles may end up serving as “another data point in our day-to-day exploration of Premier Access with cinema”.
Streaming numbers across the industry are divided much more carefully than Nielsen’s box office revenues or ratings, for a number of logical reasons. Simply put, companies are generally under no obligation to disclose anything. Premium cable networks, when they were on the rise decades ago, never used to reveal ratings like the ones ad-supported networks felt compelled to do. The number of subscribers was alpha and omega. So it can be said for streaming. Still, it’s surprising that other big players like Netflix, HBO Max, Peacock – and even Amazon Prime Video and Apple – have paid more attention to their streaming efforts than Disney.
Netflix has frustrated many observers and industry sectors for years with limited disclosures of viewing data, but in more recent times it has revealed more numbers (although they can be handpicked). The statistics carry a bit of an asterisk, since the company considers any sample of subscribers of at least two minutes of a certain title to be a “preview”, not exactly a sign of great commitment. Still, the company reliably releases a handful of new statistics each quarter and allows talent to share selected numbers on social media year-round. The teams that run HBO Max and Peacock did not release as many concrete numbers, but reported several engagement numbers and ratings for their schedule and how it’s being consumed.
Amazon didn’t exactly lift the veil Borat 2, but at least it made a rare disclosure last fall that “tens of millions” of Prime subscribers watched the film over the opening weekend. Apple has also been largely silent on a corporate level about the launch of Apple TV +, a mere footnote in the Services division alongside iCloud or Apple Music and iCloud. However, some insights escaped Cupertino last year. Originals like Defending Jacob and Servant are among the most popular of the service, according to sources, and 30% of those who watch Tom Hanks’ action movie Greyhound they said they signed up for Apple + to watch it.
For Disney, the stakes could not be higher for its streaming business, a beacon of hope at a time when Covid-19 destroyed its other operations, which is undoubtedly a dominant factor in its transparency decisions. On the day of the company’s investor in December, the company won praise for showing a ride of 100 new series and films directed to the service, an average of one new title per week. It also revealed price increases in the United States and other territories, a move that has generated almost no negative reaction that these moves often cause. When you are piloting a blast of heat, it is not always necessary to take a temperature reading.
In the earnings conference call, McCarthy described the price increase, which will boost US $ 1 a month plans, as “very reasonable”. Chapek added: “The best isolation we have is to keep the price / value ratio very high, and there is no better way to do that than powerful franchises launching new regular releases on a monthly basis.”