If Disney+ wants to come at the king (of streaming services), it better not miss.
Digital Trends reports that Disney+ has 153.6 million subscribers, as of May 2024. That’s good for third overall among streamers, but well behind Amazon Prime Video (#2, 200 million+ subscribers) and Netflix (#1, 269.6 million). Disney honcho Bob Iger’s plan to decrease the gap is to do something that Netflix has already enacted to great financial success: end password sharing.
On a Disney earnings call on Tuesday, Iger referred to Netflix as “the gold standard when it comes to streaming,” and the only way for Disney+ to catch up is to crackdown on multiple households using the same account. He called it a “necessary and very, very productive” measure, according to IndieWire.
It is a head start on streaming technology that separates Netflix from the pack, Iger explained, which is why the industry leader has industry-leading margins… “We feel quite bullish about it,” Iger said. “Obviously, we’re heartened by the results that Netflix has delivered in their password-sharing initiative, and (we) believe that it will be one of the contributors to growth… going forward.”
Disney’s war on password sharing will begin in “a few countries in a few markets” in June, followed by a wider rollout in September