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After 16 months of operation, Disney+ has hit a massive milestone.

When Disney+ first launched back in November of 2019, its massive back-catalog of Disney properties, as well as the promise of new Marvel and Star Wars-themed shows and movies, immediately drew a sizable subscriber base. Now, only a year and change since its launch, Disney+ has already become a streaming superpower, garnering over 100 million subscribers as of today.


“The enormous success of Disney+, which has now surpassed 100 million subscribers, has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in statement.

Analysts suspect that the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic likely played a role in Disney+’s breakout success, as many potential viewers were stuck at home for the majority of last year with little else to do. The pandemic also played a role in Disney’s decision to move films like Mulan or the theatrical release of Hamilton to their service in addition to theaters, which provided even more incentive to subscribe. The greatest contributor was undoubtedly Disney’s major weekly shows, such as The Mandalorian or the recently concluded WandaVision, which brought new subscribers in in droves. One episode of WandaVision drew so much viewership, Disney+ actually crashed for a brief period.

As of reaching the 100 million milestone, Disney+ is now outperforming several of its streaming contemporaries, including Amazon’s Amazon Prime Video. The service now also has approximately half the total subscribers of Netflix, and considering they reached this point after just a year, they could well be within striking distance of the streaming leader within another year, especially if new shows and movies like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier bring in the same numbers as WandaVision.