While we don’t expect to hear any true numbers about subscribers or downloads from Disney until its next investors call in early 2020, there’s a new report that offers some pretty impressive data about just how popular yesterday’s launch of Disney+ was. Sure, the Mouse House isn’t ready to topple Netflix. Well, not yet at least.
According to the research firm Apptopia (via Variety), Disney+ was downloaded on mobile devices (we don’t have data on TV app viewing or any other method) 3.2 million times in the first 24 hours it was available. And of those millions of folks that downloaded the mobile app, they viewed over 1.3 million hours of streaming content on the first day. Considering the app only launched in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, these are pretty damn impressive numbers, to say the least.
As we reported yesterday, it’s those 3.2 million (plus whoever watched via non-mobile methods) that contributed to the alarming number of folks that weren’t able to access the streaming service due to apparent outages. Disney+ said that it was the high-demand that caused issues for some people trying to relive the nostalgia-heavy platform.
For comparison’s sake, Netflix users streamed over 6 million hours of content over the same time period, so Disney+ has some serious catching up to do. But then again, purely based on subscriber data, Netflix has a significant leg up on its fledgling competition.
READ MORE: Disney+ Says Launch Day Tech Issues Are Caused By “Everyone’s Excitement”
Also worth noting is that the new streaming service is being offered with a free 7-day trial (in addition to those that actually get a full year of the service through partnerships with Verizon and other companies). So, like with any free service, the second people have to fork over money, that’s when tough decisions need to be made.
However, anecdotally, you could safely say that the launch of Disney+ has been a big success for the studio and likely points to what everyone knew going into this — Disney is here to stay.