Disney+ Day One Downloads Reach 3.2 Million (But Don't Expect Them To Share Ratings)
Oh, you thought we were done talking about Disney+? Well, guess again. After a big fiery launch for the Disney streaming service yesterday it's time to sort through the ashes and see what's what. According to Disney themselves, Disney+ netted 3.2 million app downloads yesterday. They also claim they've added 10 million subscribers in the last 24 hours. That's nothing to sneeze at, but it's also worth noting that Disney has no plans to release ratings for their Disney+ originals, either.
How successful was Disney+ on its first day? According to Disney, very successful. They're reporting the Disney+ app was downloaded 3.2 million times in the first 24 hours (Variety says 89% of the downloads were in the U.S., with 9% in Canada and 2% in the Netherlands). On top of that, the service allegedly signed up 10 million subscribers since launch. In short, Disney just made a whole lot more money. This is all the more impressive when you take into account that Disney+ ran into several problems yesterday, with many subscribers unable to get the streaming service to launch properly.
However, when reporting this sort of news, it's worth remembering that the info is coming from a biased party. The same thing applies to Netflix when they jump on Twitter to claim that 10 billion people watched the latest Adam Sandler original – take it with a grain of salt. Case in point: The Verge reports that Disney has no plans to divulge the ratings of their original programs. Netflix has actually been making moves to be more transparent with their ratings, but Disney isn't going to follow their lead. As The Verge report states, "The company currently doesn't see a reason to share metrics with the public, although creative talent who partner with Disney on Disney+ titles will receive some form of ratings."
It's worth noting that Disney+ was available for free for certain Verizon subscribers, which no doubt helped with these numbers. It's also worth noting that Disney+ has launched with a free seven-day trial, so some of these millions of new users could theoretically drop off once that week-long window closes. Even if they do, Disney is still able to claim success with these numbers, which will no doubt make the top brass very happy. And strong word of mouth could end up increasing these numbers, with users signing up for the service in the days or weeks to come.