Disney+ Hotstar operates on a freemium model where it offers some content on a free ad-supported model, unlike Disney+, which only offers paid subscriptions.
The Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service Disney+ has around 28m paid subscribers in India (including 2.5m subscribers from Indonesia), taking the global subscriber base of Disney+ up to 94.9m. Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar added 21.2m subscribers in India from October to December – with the latter’s contributions to that 94.9m figure going up from 25% to 30%. For Disney+ Hotstar alone, the quarterly growth was around 10m.
Christine McCarthy, Disney’s Senior Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, said: “With 94.9m paid subscribers at the end of Q1 [2021], Disney+’s global net additions were 21.2m versus Q4 [2020]. Disney+ Hotstar subscriber additions continued their strong growth trend with Disney+ Hotstar subscribers making up approximately 30% of our global subscriber base. […] Disney+’s overall ARPU this quarter was $4.03 (about Rs. 293). However, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, it was $5.37.”
McCarthy added: “Disney does not intend to update [its] subscriber numbers as of our earnings dates [given] that we are past the launch year of Disney+.”
From now on, Disney will solely give us subscriber numbers when it crosses sure milestones (say 100m).
