Studies suggest Disney+ chipping away at Netflix subscribers in US

The Mandalorian

A small number of Disney+ subscribers have already decided to ditch Netflix in favour of the Star Wars streamer, according to three recently released studies.

According to a Bank of America survey of over 1,000 Americans, 6.5% of respondents using both Disney+ and Netflix said they only plan to keep the former.

A similar survey from Fortune found that 5% of Disney+ subscribers have cancelled Netflix since October.

The same report said The Mandalorian streamer would chip away at Netflix’s base over the coming months, with 20% of Netflix users saying they’ve already subscribed to Disney+ while a further 19% are likely to subscribe in the next month.

Outside of Netflix subscribers, the survey also found that 14% of Americans have already subscribed to Disney+ with 15% planning on signing up in the next month. The results suggests an increase in interest in the streamer, with an earlier survey from Fortune before launch finding that 28% of respondents were likely to subscribe to Disney+.

Breaking down by generation, Disney+ is most popular with millennials, with 25% saying they have subscribed to the streamer. This is unsurprising as people from this age group, who grew up during the Michael Eisner-dubbed ‘Disney Decade’ of the 1990s, are the most likely to have young children and a large amount of nostalgia for the Mouse House content of their youth.

Only 10% of Generation X-ers said they have signed up while that drops down to 6% for baby boomers.

A third report, from investment bank Cowen & Co, estimates that Disney+ has amassed 24 million subscribers since launch – up from the previously estimated first five day total of 15 million.

The firm likewise predicts small but significant Netflix churn to boost Disney+. Cowen & Co estimated that Disney+ will be directly responsible for a further 1 million US Netflix account cancellations, with the total losses for the quarter to sit at a little over 5 million.

For concrete numbers on Disney+, we will have to wait until the Mouse House’s next quarterly earnings report.