Disney+ tops 22 million downloads in month one 

Disney+ has been downloaded 22 million times in the four weeks since its launch.

According to a new report from app download tracker Apptopia the US represents 85% of the streamer’s downloads, with Disney+ also available in the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

By contrast, Netflix was downloaded less than 18 million times in this period, while Amazon Prime Video received fewer than 10 million downloads and HBO Now under 1 million.

The report says that US$20 million has been generated via in-app purchase revenue, with 81% of that coming from the US, and that the app has been ranked first on both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. 

Usage generally lines up with the downloads, with the US making up 84% of Disney+’s active users. However, the report adds that Disney’s overall company-wide mobile users are largely (79%) non-US, indicating that the streamer’s “actual opportunity size is at least four times bigger than what we are observing currently.”

It goes on to say that Disney+ user sessions are 5.8% longer on average than Netflix and 7.8% longer than Amazon Prime Video. That said, the vast majority of Disney+’s content library is widely popular films, such as the Star Wars franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with TV being less of a focus for the platform at present. 

However, while Disney+ has certainly made a splash – to the extent that it was Google’s top-trending search term from 2019 – the report asserts that it has not significantly impacted its competitors, with daily sessions on the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Now being largely unchanged.

The report lastly moves to Disney+’s impact on downloads of ESPN+ and Hulu. The former has seen a 34% increase of downloads while the latter has jumped up by 46% in the month since launch, aided by the US$12.99 per month bundle of all three services. Disney+ on its own costs US$6.99 per month. 

The report from Apptopia followed a similar study from research outfit In My Area which found that an estimated 15 million domestic US subscribers signed up in the first five days after launch.

The research group surveyed 1,097 people between November 14-17, and extrapolated the total figure from its survey data. It estimated that 18% of the US population had expressed an intent to subscribe, with 69% of those with intent saying they had already subscribed.