Overall, global SVOD subscriptions will increase by 491m between 2021 and 2026 to reach 1.64bn.
Disney+ will add 140m subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to bring its total to 284m, and in 2025 it will surpass Netflix in subscribers, according to a report by Digital TV Research.
Around 121m of Disney+’ subscribers (43% of its total) in 2026 will be in the 13 Asian countries under the Hotstar brand.
Disney+ will reach 284.2m subscribers in 2026, down from a 294m estimate the firm had made earlier in the year. In 2026, Netflix will have 270.7m subscribers, down from an earlier estimate of 286m. In a February report, the firm had forecast that Disney+’s user base would surpass Netflix’s in 2026.
Global SVOD subscriptions will increase by 491m between 2021 and 2026 to reach 1.64bn. China and the US will together account for 49% of the global total by 2026, down from 56% in 2021.
Commenting on the report, Simon Murray, Principal Analyst of Digital TV Research, said: “China and the US had a similar number of subscriptions by end-2020. Due to government pressure, China’s growth is decelerating, with 354m subscriptions expected by 2026. The US will continue to grow, with 450m subscriptions expected by 2026.
Netflix, which Wall Street Analysts are lauding for their hit content from outside the US, such as South Korean original series Squid Game, will add 53m customers by 2026, “revealing growth even for the most established platform,” while Amazon Prime is projected to hit 243.4m users. Behind that, it estimates that China’s Tencent will end 2026 with 98.7m users, China’s iQiyi with 76.8m and HBO with 76.3m subscribers.
