X

Disney Plus has more than 10 million subscribers

Disney says that's the last number it'll give out for months.

JoanSolsmanHS2013urbanoutdoorSmilingSQUAREspinner.jpg
JoanSolsmanHS2013urbanoutdoorSmilingSQUAREspinner.jpg
Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials
  • Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
See full bio
Joan E. Solsman
longread-mcu-avengers-cast

Disney Plus launched Tuesday to stream movies and originals from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and other Disney properties. 

 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Disney Plus, Disney's highly anticipated streaming service, has signed up more than 10 million subscribers since launching early Tuesday, Disney said Wednesday. By comparison, HBO Now took nearly three years to reach half that number. 

Hulu, another streaming service owned by Disney, has 28 million subscribers after its launch more than a decade ago. Netflix, which dominates the market for subscription streaming video, has more than 150 million members globally after introducing streaming over a decade ago. 

Disney didn't specify how many of those subscribers signed up through a Verizon promotion that gives the mobile carrier's "unlimited" customers a free year of the new streaming service. 

The company added that it wouldn't release any more membership numbers outside its regular earnings calls, meaning there won't be updates on its sign-up figures until at least early next year. 

Disney Plus is perhaps the most high-profile example of traditional Hollywood reorienting to compete against the likes of Netflix in streaming video. It's Disney's $7-a-month streaming subscription service for almost everything the entertainment giant creates, and Disney has realigned the entire company around it, including forsaking the hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing deals from Netflix itself.