Disney's Stock Surges After Signing Up More Than 10M Customers In First Day Of New Streaming Service

Walt Disney Co DIS said Wednesday more than 10 million customers have already signed up for its new Disney+ streaming service launched on Tuesday.

The company offered a number of discount deals ahead of the launch with some promotions making it available below the advertised $6.99 monthly price. One promotion, for example, is letting some Verizon Communications Inc VZ cell service customers get a year of Disney+ for free.

In a short statement about the milestone, Disney didn't break out how many of its sign-ups were from that promotion or others. Disney also said it wouldn't release additional subscriber data on the new service except during its regular quarterly earnings calls.

Why It's Important

The company is aiming to compete for streaming viewers with the longstanding pioneer in the industry, Netflix Inc. NFLX, which has more than 60 million U.S. subscribers and nearly 100 million overseas, as well as with new entrants that include Apple Inc. AAPL.

Digital TV Research projects Disney+ will have more than 100 million subscribers by 2025, while the company has forecast 60 million to 90 million subscribers by then. One analyst, cg42 founder and managing partner Stephen Beck, estimated that 45% of all streaming subscribers could sign up for Disney+ in the next three months.

The robust interest in Disney+ in the first 24 hours came despite reported glitches caused at least in part by the heavy demand.

Stock Surge

The strong interest in the streaming service was mirrored by rising interest in Disney stock on Wednesday. Shares were up 7.6% at publication time, trading at $149.14.

Netflix's stock was down 2.9% to $283.44.

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