Earlier today, we reported that one independent research firm stated that Disney+ was downloaded 3.2 million times on mobile devices over the course of the first 24 hours of release. Obviously, mobile users are only a fraction of those who watched the content. Apparently, according to the new numbers released by the studio, the number of sign-ups on launch day is well above that 3.2 million number.
Deadline is reporting that Disney’s official number of sign-ups for Disney+ in the first 24 hours is up to 10 million. Yep, ten million. That’s a huge number for any streaming launch, even if you’re the biggest studio in the world. This also explains why people have been having issues logging on to the service due to outages. The studio previously claimed that the high demand led to these issues, and with 10 million users trying to stream content, that’s pretty understandable.
Though it’s not a true apples-to-apples (pardon the pun) comparison, the Disney numbers released after the first 24 hours seem to compare pretty favorably the vague data that Apple has reportedly seen from the debut of its streaming service on November 1. THR reported that the company says “millions” watched Apple TV+ original content over the first weekend, but numbers haven’t been released. We’d venture to guess if Apple had a total like 10 million to brag about, we would have heard about it right away.
READ MORE: Disney+ Says Launch Day Tech Issues Are Caused By “Everyone’s Excitement”
Of course, Disney+ has Apple TV+ beaten in one key area — its content library. Despite the tech company charging $4.99 per month for its stable of less than 10 original series and no library of previously-released content, Disney is only charging $6.99 per month for roughly the same amount of original series, plus a huge chunk of the Disney/Fox back catalog.
Clearly, first-day sign-ups are always a bit hard to judge by, due to the fact that Disney, along with Apple, offered a free 7-day trial, as well as a free year as part of third-party partnerships. That being said, even if a decent chunk of those 10 million users departs after the first week, Disney+ is still well on its way to its predicted 60 million users by 2024.
Disney+ is available to stream now.