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Disney has announced plans to increase streaming subscriptions to 300-350 million by 2024 for its Disney service, ESPN, Hulu and the upcoming Star, driven by new and more content releases. Disney + plans to release more than 100 titles this year alone, with a particular focus on its Marvel and Star Wars franchises. In addition to expanding to more countries, the company is also raising prices for streaming services to increase revenue.
Disney announced in October that it would reorganize its media and entertainment business and put more attention on its streaming services. During its Investor Day presentation, Disney said it currently has more than 137 million global paid subscriptions, including 11.5 million for ESPN +, 38.8 million for Hulu and 86.8 million for Disney +, which launched in November 2019. That means Disney + has added around 13 million new subscribers. since the end of September.
Launch of the general entertainment content brand Star
Following the launch of Hotstar earlier this year in India and Indonesia, Disney shared more about their plans for Star. The service will be listed as part of Disney + in some countries and will launch as a standalone streaming service in Latin America as Star. +. The brand will host content from Disney studios, including Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios, and 20th Television, among others, but will also showcase local programming.
Star will launch in Europe and several other international markets on February 23 as a fully integrated part of Disney +, with its own brand mosaic and a new collection of general entertainment series, films and documentaries, doubling the catalog of content available to subscribers. Meanwhile, Disney + will be updated globally to offer enhanced parental controls, including the ability to set limits on access to content for specific profiles based on content rating and the ability to add a Pin to block profiles with access to content for Adults.
Prices to go up
Disney said it will increase the prices of its services starting March 26. Disney + will go in the US at $ 7.99 per month or $ 79.99 per year, while the Disney package with Disney +, Hulu, and ESPN + will increase to $ 13.99 per month.
A new deal with Comcast was also announced, bringing the Disney + and ESPN + experiences to Comcast X1 set-top boxes and Flex platforms in the first quarter, joining Hulu, which became available on these platforms this spring. Additionally, Hulu customers will also be able to subscribe to ESPN + within the Hulu user interface and access ESPN + sports programming beginning early next year.
In Europe, the service will be priced at EUR 8.99 per month or EUR 89.99 per year, with a similar price adjustment in Star’s other launch markets, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The streaming service will continue its global rollout, now with Star, in new markets starting with Singapore on February 23, followed by Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea later in the year.
In Latin America, Star + will present itself as an independent streaming service, bringing together ESPN live sports and local original productions. The service will launch in June for $ 7.50 per month (or the local equivalent), or as part of a package with Disney + for $ 9.00 per month (or the local equivalent).
Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar
The biggest drive to attract subscribers will be the release of much more content in the coming years. There will be ten Star Wars-inspired series, ten Marvel series, and 15 live-action, animated, and Pixar Disney features. This will be in addition to the premium content that will premiere in cinemas and linear channels before reaching the streaming service.
The company said “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be available on Disney + with Premier Access in most markets, at the same time that it opens in theaters on March 5. Premier Access for the title will be priced at $ 29.99. More titles will also be released on Disney + such as Star Originals.
From the Disney Television Studios for Disney +, there will be two projects inspired by the live version of Beauty and the Beast, starring Luke Evans and Josh Gad, and with new music composed by Alan Menken. There will be a new “Swiss Robinson Family” and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” as well as “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers”, “Big Shot”, “The Mysterious Benedict Society” and “Turner & Hooch”.
There will also be new content from National Geographic, including “Limitless With Chris Hemsworth,” “Welcome to Earth (working title)” featuring Will Smith and a fourth season of the “Genius” series, featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. The studio also announced the new documentary film “Cousteau”, along with the new documentary series “Secrets of the Whales”, “A Real Bug’s Life” and “America The Beautiful”.
For Hulu and Star, the Kardashian Jenners will create new global content under a multi-year agreement, to stream exclusively on Hulu in the US and internationally on Star, with a debut expected late next year 2021. Other premieres in the coming years. Services will include premium series “Only Murders in the Building”, “The Abandonment” and “Dopesick”. In 2021, a roster of FX originals, including “The Old Man,” “American Horror Stories,” “Platform,” “Reservation Dogs,” and “Y: The Last Man” will be available on Hulu in the US. And Star in different countries.
