It is the quarterly results season for the leading streaming services of the world. Netflix had revealed its second quarter earnings reports late last month. The overall results were a sliver of hope for Netflix, after its disappointing loss of subscribers in the first quarter of the year.
Likewise, Disney revealed its third quarter earnings reports at the end of last week. The reports threw up surprises galore, the most significant one being that the combined Disney behemoth of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN+ has overtaken the mighty Netflix in total paying subscribers globally. Disney Plus alone added 14.4 million subscribers globally to the total Disney count.
Paramount Plus too revealed its total number of paid subscribers last month as did Peacock. So while the total paid subscribers of most of the top streaming platforms globally is public knowledge, two streamers are still notoriously secretive when it comes to revealing their subscribers’ data. They are Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus.
Both Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus’ subscribers count mentioned below is based on random bits of information they have revealed to media outlets at various times.
So here are the total number of paid subscribers for each streaming platform globally –
1. Netflix – 220.67 million global paid subscribers
2. Amazon Prime Video – 200 million global paid subscribers, as revealed by the streamer last year
3. Disney (including Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN) – 221.1 million global paid subscribers
Disney individual breakup –
Disney Plus – 152.1 million paid subscribers globally
Out of these, Disney+ Hotstar clocks in at 58.4 million subscribers
Hulu – 46.2 million paid subscribers
ESPN+ – 22.8 million paid subscribers globally
4. HBO, HBO Max, and Discovery Plus – 92.1 million combined paid subscribers globally
5. Paramount Plus – 43 million paid subscribers globally
Paramount Global (includes Paramount Plus, Showtime, and a few smaller services) – 63.7 million paid subscribers globally
6. Apple TV Plus – less than 20 million paid subscribers globally
7. Peacock – 13 million paid subscribers globally
Note: This list only includes global streaming services, not Indian OTT platforms.