Disney+ Gains 2 Million Oz Viewers In First Four Months

According to the latest data from Roy Morgan, Disney+ had attracted 2 million viewers in Australia by end-March, only four months after the streaming service entered the local market.

By comparison, Netflix took six months to hit 2 million viewers in Australia, following its local launch in March 2015.

Disney+’s surge in growth would have been bolstered by Australians watching more content during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Now, Disney+ is the fourth-most-popular TV subscription service in the country.

“The immediate success of Disney+ provides an example of how new entrants to the market can gain a large share of existing viewers as well as contributing to a growth in the overall market at the same time,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine. “Of Disney+’s 2 million viewers, a large majority of 1.67 million (83%) are already viewers of Netflix and 897,000 (45%) already watch Stan.”

Foxtel, which is launching its video streaming service BINGE today, will be looking to replicate this success. Over the year to end-March 2020 Foxtel gained 63,000 viewers to reach 4.87 million. This growth was led by Kayo Sports, its sports streaming service, which gained 174,000 viewers over the year.

“Foxtel’s launch next week of a new cut-price streaming service to go head-to-head against Netflix, Stan and Disney+ does raise the risk of ‘cannibalising’ Foxtel’s existing revenue streams, but also sets Foxtel up to take a share of the growing market of consumers increasingly gravitating towards low-cost services that offer extensive and deep catalogues,” Levine said. “The latest results show there are millions of Australian households with two, or three, or even more subscription television services.”

Now, Disney+ sits ahead of Amazon Prime Video (1.6 million) and YouTube Premium (1.47 million), but behind Netflix (12.59 million), Foxtel, and Stan (3.72 million).