Disney Shares Climb 7% As Video On Demand Service Crosses 50M Subscribers

The shares of Walt Disney Company DIS surged nearly 7% higher in the after-hours session on Wednesday.

What Happened

The surge came as the company reported that its video-on-demand service Disney+ had crossed 50 million subscribers globally.

Eight of the 50 million subscribers come just from India, where the service was launched last week through its existing content streaming subsidiary Hotstar, Disney said.

Disney+ also became in eight western European countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland, over the past two weeks.

"We're truly humbled that Disney+ is resonating with millions around the globe, and believe this bodes well for our continued expansion throughout Western Europe and into Japan and all of Latin America later this year," Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International Chairman Kevin Mayer said in a statement.

Why It Matters

Disney+ debuted in November last year, with its United States launch.

Apart from the countries it serves directly, the company also earlier this month partnered with the Dubai-based Orbit Showtime Network, or OSN, to serve seventeen countries in the middle-east region.

Disney+, unlike its competitors Netflix Inc. NFLX, Apple Inc.'s AAPL Apple TV+, and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video, exclusively streams content created by itself or subsidiaries.

Netflix reported 167 million subscribers in its last quarterly report. Amazon reported 150 million prime memberships around the same time in January.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has recently increased demand for the streaming services as people are forced to stay indoors to curb the spread of the virus that has killed at least 88,415 people worldwide.

Price Action

Disney stock traded nearly 7% higher at $108.10 per share in the after-hours market on Wednesday. The shares closed the regular session 0.17% lower at $101.07.