Ever since launching in November of 2019 Disney Plus has become one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world, next to NETFLIX, Amazon Prime and HBO Max.

The service is stated to have 116 Million subscribers (though it’s debatable how many are “paying” due to the amount of free users via the various partnerships). With Original Programing such as The Mandalorian and Loki, along with hundreds of classic Disney films and TV shows it is considered the ultimate destination for Disney content.

In a recent report the Disney Plus app has made $1.5 Billion in total sales since its launch in late 2019.

Via Sensor Tower this past April Disney+ made that goal. It is also important to note that in July they also saw the most spending in a single month due to the release of Black Widow on Premier Access. Reports indicate that Disney saw about two million users, paying $30 each, to watch the Marvel film.

Additional profits can of course be attributed to the ever increasing install base.

Despite the large amount of income not all of that stays.

In the first seven months of 2021 alone, Disney reportedly spent $238 Million on Marketing for the service. Not to mention the company itself said that Disney Plus won’t be profitable until 2024.

Disney has also been leaning heavily on marketing to desktop video ad and spent about $31.8 million  in 2020, mostly on YouTube. They have already spent about $8.6 million on promotion of The Mandalorian Season 3 and it isn’t even coming out until 2022.

Disney is spending a lot of money to make money to cross Disney+ into profitability. 

However, that profitability might come sooner if they keep pushing in international markets, especially in markets that the company no longer provides cable channels.

With Disney’s continued push to direct-to-consumer and digital/online sales we most likely won’t see a slowdown any time soon, especially with Bob Chapek at the helm.

Source: Forbes