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2020 is the year for Disney; while it may not be for the rest of the world, Disney+ sure did turn the tables on the company when it launched back in 2019. The day the streaming service was available for users to download and subscribe along with the premiere of 2020’s top streaming show, “The Mandalorian” season 1, broke Netflix’s “Stranger Things” 5-month streak.
Let’s not forget that The Mandalorian also introduced us to the cutest creature of all kind, Baby Yoda, and the whole world fell in love with it instantly, even making him the meme sensation of the year.
But Baby Yoda becoming the meme of the year was not the only achievement that Disney+ bagged in their first year. It came in with huge expectations as Bob Iger, the former CEO of Disney, said that “This is a bet on the future of this business.”
Disney Completes 5-Year Goal in 9 Months
At the beginning of the year, Disney set their goals and quotas to meet in the coming 5 years. One of which was reaching 60 million subscribers by 2025.
According to their and the rest of our surprise, Disney+ outranked everyone and actively reached 73 million subscribers in October 2020, roughly 11 months after the service launch. Surpassing their 5-year goal with ease.
The major contributor to this surge was the pandemic, and the whole world under a strict lockdown. Disney+, along with other streaming services, came as knights in shining armors for us, saving us from immense boredom and helping us keep our sanity intact. But that also lead to another significant “achievement,” as we may say so.
Disney+ Initiated the Ultimate Streaming War
Before Disney+ came into the streaming circle, everything revolved around Netflix and Amazon Prime. After Disney’s launch, alot of new services began to surface, including Peacock, HBO, and many more, even if they were here way before Disney Plus was.
Moreover, the collaboration of Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ came as another blow to the streaming world who could now get 3 services at a price of one. This tempted people more along with the already cheap price tag of Disney acquired Hulu and Disney Plus.
Hulu was already a direct competitor of Netflix with similar content and in-house produced original series, adding Disney+ to the bandwagon not only gave them variety but that too at a low price.
Since families were quarantining together, most of them preferred to get streaming services that were family and kid’s friendly, and there was no better alternative than Disney Plus itself, which was a child’s dream come true.
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Disney Plus bought Marvel and Star Wars Franchise
Disney Plus holds 5 different franchise and content libraries on its service. Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, National Geographic, and Disney itself.
It means that you will find all the Marvel series and movie on Disney Plus exclusively, while all the other streaming services will get rid of these titles as their licenses expire.
The same is the case with Star Wars; all the animated and regular series and movies are only available on Disney+.
Disney+ Premier Access
This year, Disney+ also initiated a new service called “Premier Access,” a video-on-demand service launched to replace Mulan’s theatrical release in cinemas.
After numerous delays in Mulan’s premier since March, Disney could not suffer any more losses and had to make a decision, which they did in the form of this service, which was supposed to replicate a cinematic premiere.
The service came with an additional $30 price tag, which was a one-time cost for the most anticipated movie of 2020, Mulan.
In the End
Disney+ has managed to bag a vast customer base, and it has made things easy for them, but they have a long way to go, which requires alot of hard work to maintain that base and further increase the count.
Hopefully, Disney+ will continue to thrive as they have and make it to the top by achieving their goals on time.
