Does Disney+ Have an International Growth Problem?
With Disney+ boasting 95 million global subscribers just 14 months after its launch, Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and its investors have to be pleased. That result exceeds the top end of Disney's original forecast range for the number of subscribers it would rack up in five years, an outperformance that led CFO Christine McCarthy to revise her 2024 estimate dramatically upward to a range of 230 million to 260 million subscribers. If it hits that new target, the streaming service will surpass Netflix's (NASDAQ: NFLX) current subscriber total.
But Disney+ subscribers are heavily concentrated in two countries: India and the United States. According to internal data seen by tech-sector news site The Information, 40% of Disney+ subscribers are in the U.S. And McCarthy said about 30% of its subscribers are on the Disney+ Hotstar plan, heavily concentrated in India.
In order to reach Netflix-level scale, Disney+ will need to increase its penetration in Europe and Latin America.
Source Fool.com
