Disney+ Reports 86.8 Million Subscribers Globally

The subscription growth for the $6.99-a-month service has generated enthusiasm on Wall Street, where Disney shares have hit all-time highs on the strength of its streaming potential. The excitement comes despite Disney’s challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, which has cost its theme-park division billions of dollars in lost revenue. Last month, Disney reported its second consecutive quarterly loss—the second time it has done so since 2001.

The rapid growth of Disney+ since its launch just over a year ago has surpassed even the company’s most optimistic projections, Mr. Chapek said. While Netflix Inc. still has more than twice as many subscribers, with nearly 200 million around the globe, Disney is growing at a faster clip.

In addition to Disney+, the company said its Hulu service has 38.8 million subscribers and ESPN+ has close to 12 million subscribers.

At its last investor event in April 2019, Disney said it hoped to reach between 60 million and 90 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.

Disney’s investor days have buoyed the company in the past. Last year it unveiled the Disney+ strategy during one such event at the company’s Burbank, Calif., lot—a move that helped turn around years of Wall Street skepticism about Disney’s long-term growth potential as cable-TV cord-cutting has eaten into ESPN’s subscriber figures.

Stay-at-home orders and a dearth of live entertainment and sports options have helped boost Disney+ and other streaming services including Netflix, which added 16 million subscribers in the first months of the pandemic.

Disney said it is producing dozens of new shows and movies for the service, including 10 series each from Marvel Studios and “Star Wars” company Lucasfilm Ltd. Several Disney Animation and Pixar Animation shows and features are in the works, too.

The company is also preparing would-be theatrical releases to premiere on the service, such as Pixar’s “Soul” and the March release “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which will premiere in theaters and on Disney+ through a premium-priced rental option.

Earlier this month, AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia shocked—and angered—much of Hollywood with its decision to release its entire 2021 slate in theaters and on its fledgling HBO Max streaming service simultaneously.

Disney executives reiterated Thursday that they wouldn’t be pursuing as extreme a strategy as their Warner Bros. counterparts, welcome news for theater-chain operators that rely on Disney moneymakers to stay afloat in some years. Instead, Disney plans to release its movies under three different models: a traditional theatrical release; a simultaneous theatrical and Disney+ release; and exclusive Disney+ premieres, said Kareem Daniel, the new head of the company’s distribution division.

Theaters, Mr. Daniel said, are still essential to “help establish major franchises that are at the heart of our Disney flywheel.”

Write to Erich Schwartzel at [email protected] and Joe Flint at [email protected]