Massive Growth in Subscriber Base ofDisney+ Hotstar

Disney+ Hotstar saw a surge in the number of subscribers in India with the total number going up to 8.63 million by the end of the first quarter in June on account of 15% of the company’s flagship streaming service’s subscribers which stood at 57.3 million for the quarter.

This comes up to an additional 625,000 new subscribers from the period between April to June. Disney+  which started its services on Hotstar has revealed that it had a subscriber base of 8 million in India on the month of April when the total number of subscribers worldwide crossed 50 million.

Christine McCarthy who is the chief financial officer at Disney said that the total average revenue per user (ARPU) for Disney+  was $4.62 for the quarter, however it went up to $5.31when Disney+ Hotstar was excluded. The data clearly shows that Disney+ Hotstar in total earns about $0.71 from each subscriber in India for every quarter. But with time the Average Revenue per user will rise in the months to come as there has been a price hike recorded in the service, as Disney + was launched in Hotstar. The entry-level pricing for ‘Disney+ Hotstar VIP’ increased up to Rs.399 per year while on the other hand  ‘Disney+ Hotstar Premium’ was increased up to Rs 1,499 per year which was earlier Rs 999 per year.

Bob Chapek who is the chief executive of Disney said in his announcement that they are launching Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia on the 5^th of September and in a similar manner Disney+ in the Nordic region, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Portugal in the same month, while in November they will launch in Latin America  “By year-end, Disney+ will be available in nine of the top 10 economies in the world,” Chapek said, adding that Disney+  on Monday has surpassed 60.5 million paid subscribers across the world.

Disney+ Hotstar functions on a freemium model where it offers content on a free ad-supported model, which is in contrast to Disney+ which offers only paid subscriptions.

Star-Branded streaming service

The general entertainment service will offer its service under the Star Brand 2021. Its service will include content from 20th Century Studios, ABC Studios, Fox Television, FX, Freeform, and Searchlight. The content featured will be it’s own in – house content and they will not indulge any other licensed content from third party players operating in the industry.

“In many markets, the offering will be fully integrated into Disney+ platform from both a marketing and a technology perspective, and it will be distributed under the Star brand which has been successfully utilized by the company for other general entertainment platform launches, particularly with Disney+ Hotstar in India,” Chapek said in the conference call.

The changes have come in place when the industry all around is with a belief that streaming service would prove to be productive given the situation is hard because of the pandemic outbreak. Disney had to bear a loss of nearly $4.72 billion, it is the first time that the platform had to suffer a loss since its inception in 2001

Chief executive of Disney Bob Chapek did not give out any details relating to the specific timing and the pricing of the service and it is very obvious that the content will stream through Disney+ Hotstar in India.

The platform faces a tough competition in India from players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Essel Group’s Zee5, Times Internet’s MX Player, Viacom18’s Voot, and Reliance-backed ALT Balaji among others.