With Apple TV+ launching this week and Disney+ right around the corner, the already competitive streaming landscape is getting even more big-name studios entering the fray, with NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max coming in the first half of 2020. Needless to say, with this amount of competition and consumers always looking to cut back costs, the Streaming Wars will likely have some casualties eventually. And if early buzz is any indicator, of the four new streaming options about to hit, Disney is looking like the most obvious success.
Variety recently published the results of a study conducted by Hub Entertainment Research about which of the four new streaming services (Apple TV+, Disney+, Peacock, and HBO Max) people were most excited for and most likely going to subscribe to. And surprising absolutely no one, it appears that Disney is the early winner.
The study says that 31% of folks surveyed are “definitely” going to subscribe to the upcoming $6.99/month service, Disney+. Combined with another 14% saying “probably,” that leaves Disney+ with a whopping 46% of people saying they’re likely going to fork over the monthly fee for the service. And when you compare this to the other three new services, this number is even more ridiculous.
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Coming in second place, Apple TV+ seems to be a service that people are still excited about, with 29% saying they’re “probably” or “definitely” signing up. Considering 29% is still less than the 31% that said they were “definitely” going to subscribe to Disney+, the tech company still has some ground to make up, especially due to its limited offering of less than 10 shows and films on launch day. Though the $4.99 monthly fee is the lowest of the bunch.
HBO Max and Peacock are the bottom two in the survey, with 26% and 23%, respectively. However, when you look at the fact that the two services still have roughly six months to build anticipation and awareness, those numbers are actually pretty good. But with a $15 per month fee for HBO Max, and Peacock charging roughly the same, the streaming services are going to need to justify the higher price point compared to Apple and Disney.
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Long story short, if you were a gambler, the early favorite is definitely the Mouse House. But really this study doesn’t take into account the massive streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu (owned by Disney), which already have a majority of the streaming pie.