The Hollywood Reporter, is stating that the estimates from a Cowen & Co. report suggest that Netflix “lost 1.1 million subscribers to Disney+” in November. The company polled 2,500 consumers in the U.S., with 21 percent of those surveyed stating they had signed up for a Disney+ subscription.
An estimated 5.8 percent of Netflix subscribers are suggested to have canceled their subscriptions after signing up for Disney’s service, while an estimated 19.4 million of those polled are described as “dual subscribers” accounting for an 80 percent overlap between Netflix and Disney+.
Netflix, being a veteran in the streaming business, has taken it with stride that this is something that may not be be permanent (i.e. those same people could easily sign up for Netflix again), but Netflix has also been dealing with other forms of competition for years now.
“So, fundamentally, there is not a big change here,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during a recent earnings call, per THR. “All of us are competing with linear TV and we’re all relatively small to linear TV.” Hastings also pointed to competition like Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Hulu. An early boost to Disney+’s success, of course, has been the largely excellent Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
