INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Early adopters of Disney+ are mostly watching Marvel and Star Wars movies and TV shows, according to a new third-party report by SimilarWeb
The analytics firm measured Disney+ usage in its debut market, the Netherlands, where the service went live for a trial run back in
September ahead of its global rollout, and has details on which specific titles are doing well so far.
This soft launch gave Disney a chance
to work out some of the kinks before its wider availability starting in the U.S
and Canada on November 12, which will soon be followed by other international markets.
But the launch also gave third-party measurement
firms early insight into what content is performing best on the new streaming service.
In the Netherlands, six of the top 10 most-viewed
programs during the first month were TV series, and just four were movies
This included the most-watched film and No.1 most-watched program, Marvel Studios& &Avengers: Infinity War.& That was followed by the TV
series &Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,& then &Star Wars: The Clone Wars,& and Marvel Studios& &Black Panther,& which rounded out the top
5.
Star Wars and Marvel content also dominated the top 10 lists of the most-viewed movies and TV shows during this time
Marvel snagged four of the top spots for most-viewed series, while Star Wars grabbed two others.
Meanwhile, Marvel movies grabbed three of
the top spots among most-watched movies during the first month, while Star Wars grabbed four other spots.
Though the data is early and
limited to a single market, it does seem to point to Disney newer franchises — rather than its timeless animation classics or even its
Pixar hits — as being the biggest draws among Disney+ first users.
But this also could mean that Disney will need to do more to convince
families with younger children of the need to subscribe in order to gain access to Disney kids& content
Kids& programming is something that relatively plentiful these days across rival streamers, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime — and
even HBO, which has a deal with Sesame Workshop
(And its upcoming service HBO Max has already locked down new Sesame Street episodes.)
Modern streaming services long ago realized that
funding and licensing children programming was an easy way to get entire families on board — which meant more users, more watch hours and
more expensive subscription plans
Even the recent newcomers to streaming are following the same path, as Roku has with the launch of its Kids - Family section on its free The
Roku Channel.
The new streaming data arrives as Disney reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday
The company beat Wall Street expectations with earnings per share of $1.07, adjusted versus $0.95 expected, and revenue of $19.1 billion
versus $19.04 billion expected
The company also announced the availability of the Disney+ app on Amazon Fire TV, which will also go live on November 12.
During an earnings
call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the Disney+ test in the Netherlands indicated the service is appealing to a &far broader&
demographic group than the company expected.
However, recent U.S
survey of 1,500+ consumers, hosted by the recommendations app Likewise, found that more men than women were interested in subscribing to
Disney+ (46% men said they were considering versus 37% women)
It also found interest in the service skewed younger with 58% of millennials indicating interest versus 38% of Gen X and only 21% of
Boomers.
The full results from SimilarWeb Disney+ study are below.
Top 10 most-viewed content in September in the Netherlands:
Marvel
Studios& Avengers: Infinity War (movie)
Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.(series)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (series)
Star Wars Rebels
(series)
Marvel Studios& Black Panther (movie)
Marvel Agent Carter (series)
Phineas and Ferb (series)
Incredibles 2 (movie)
Beauty and
the Beast (movie)
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (series)
Top 10 TV shows
Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star
Wars Rebels
Marvel Agent Carter
Phineas and Ferb
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Marvel Runaways
Marvel Comics& X-Men
Disney Ducktales
.Kim Possible
Top 10 Movies
Marvel Studios& Avengers: Infinity War
Marvel Studios& Black Panther
Incredibles 2
Beauty and the Beast
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Movie
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
High School Musical
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Marvel
