Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) said its new Disney+ streaming service exceeded expectations as 10mln people signed up on the first day.
After launching the new service in the US, Canada and the Netherlands on Tuesday, technical glitches led to 7,000 formal complaints and a flood of social media huffing from frustrated fans.
READ: Disney gets revenue boost from film revamps, parks but streaming service costs weigh on earnings
The platform is slated to enter Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico next week, while the UK and other European markets will have to wait until next March.
Subscription comes at US$6.99, which is half the price of competitors such as Netflix Inc (NASDQA:NFLX) and Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime, and features from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic as well as original exclusive content.
Users can also bundle Disney+ with the company's Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services for a total of US$12.99 per month, a cost that is in line with its rivals.
When you are just trying to watch #DisneyPlus but you keep getting a connection error message. pic.twitter.com/fnTlrzVQIg
— KSRebelBelle18 (@KSRebelBelle18) November 12, 2019
This week's launch will lift Disney closer to the realm of the big streaming service players, having a total of 40.3mln viewers across its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ platform triumvirate, getting close to Netflix’s 60mln users, while Amazon doesn’t disclose the number of Prime Video users.
The 'House of Mouse', which plans to reach between 60mln and 90mln subscriptions by 2024, has been investing heavily in the project, with losses in the past quarter in the direct-to-consumer business nearly doubling year-on-year to US$740mln to support the launch.
Disney stock, already up 12% since the start of the month and more than 36% so far this year, was up slightly to US$149.25 in pre-market trading on Thursday, having closed at US$148.72 a day earlier.