Some of the households that took out a free subscription during the Disney+ test period will cancel their plan as soon as they have to pay for it. Of course, the official launch will also attract new subscribers. The marketing machine for Disney+ has already come on stream with TV commercials and advertisements on the internet and in application stores. The company is rapidly expanding support, for example by making apps available for Samsung smart TVs, and with plans to greatly expand its content library after 12 November.
Much interest among subscribers of other streaming video services
The study showed that Dutch people who already have experience with other streaming video services, such as Netflix or Videoland, were more likely to take out the (free) subscription to Disney+ than those without. Among those who signed up for the free Disney+, 82 percent also have a subscription to Netflix and 33 percent a subscription to Videoland.
Looking at it the other way around, 16 percent of all Netflix subscribers also signed up for the (free) Disney+. For Videoland, this was at 22 percent.
Younger generations particularly interested in Disney+
The popularity of Disney+ does not differ according to sex but there are differences when looking at age groups. The penetration of Disney+ was already at 16 percent in October for 20-29 year-olds and 14 percent for 30-39 year-olds. Many families with (young) children subscribe to Disney+ for their children. Penetration was only at 2 percent for 50-67 year-olds and 1 percent for those 67 and older.
Room for stacking video services
Streaming video services are making considerable inroads in the Netherlands. Households who already have a subscription to another streaming video service are more likely to subscribe to Disney+. Despite this, only a small percentage of Dutch households have subscriptions to multiple streaming video services at the same time. For example, 4 percent of all Dutch households had a subscription to both Netflix and Disney+ in October, 7 percent of Dutch households had a subscription to Netflix and Videoland and 3 percent of Dutch households combined a subscription to both Netflix, Videoland and Disney+.
Just over half (53%) of Dutch households do not yet have a subscription to any streaming video service, giving these video services much room to grow. The more streaming video services become available, the more will 'stacking' to be expected, certainly when streaming video services are able to offer unique content in relation to each other. The growth of Disney+ will in this way not necessarily be at the expense of other streaming video services.
Disney+ to take number two position before the end of 2019
With its flying start during the test period, Telecompaper expects the market share of Disney+ to grow beyond that of number two Videoland by by the end of the year. Videoland had 760,000 subscribers in the third quarter, compared to Disney+ with 660,000 in October, though that number will change after the official launch. Netflix will remain market leader in the Netherlands for the time being, with over 3.1 million subscribers in Q3.
