Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Digital TV Research analyst Simon Murray has completely revised his forecast. The analyst now predicts that Disney+ will reach 202 million subscribers worldwide by 2025. That is up from his previous estimate of 126 million and his initial estimate of 101 million.
“We have completely revised our forecasts for 138 countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Murray wrote. “A major impact of lockdown has been a steep rise in SVOD subscriptions.”
In comparison, the latest report also predicts that Netflix will hit 258 million subscribers globally by 2025, while HBO Max is expected to hit 25 million subscribers, and Apple TV+ will reach 14 million subscribers by 2025.
Here’s the company’s forecast at a glance:
Last week, Disney said it had reached 54.5 million subscribers to Disney+ as of May 4. The boost in subscribers is attributed to the launch of Disney+ in European countries and the rebranding of Hotstar in India, to Disney+ Hotstar, along with people needing entertainment as they adhere to stay at home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.