Disney+ Hotstar Now Has 50.1 Million Paid Subscribers, Takes Disney+ to 137.7 Million

Disney+ Hotstar now has 50.1 million paid subscribers, which takes the global subscriber base of Disney+ to 137.7 million. This means that Disney+ Hotstar's contribution to Disney+ subscriber base now stands at nearly 36 percent. Disney+ Hotstar has emerged as the fastest-growing Disney+ arm, growing 42 percent year-over-year as compared to 28 percent for the core Disney+ global subscriber count. Disney+ Hotstar had 43.66 million subscribers at the end of the 2021's fourth quarter. It added 2.6 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, and a further four million in the second quarter.

The latest edition of the highly-popular Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League is one of the main reasons behind the growth of Disney+ Hotstar in India. Disney's chief financial officer and senior executive vice president Christine McCarthy mentioned the same during the entertainment giant's quarterly earnings call: "We ended the quarter with nearly 138 million global paid Disney+ subscribers, reflecting close to 8 million net additions from Q1 [2022]. A little over half of those net adds were from Disney+ Hotstar, which benefited from the start of the new IPL season toward the end of the second quarter. Internationally, excluding Disney+ Hotstar, we added over 2 million paid subscribers versus the first quarter with Latin America being the strongest contributor, driven by growth of the Combo+ offering."

The 2022 edition of the IPL season started on March 26 and is slated to end later this month on May 29. With Disney largely offering annual plans, a majority of the subscribers it gained this past quarter from IPL 2022 will reflect in its count for the full year.

Disney+ Hotstar has concrete plans for expanding further with 100 shows in the pipeline in India, Disney revealed on the quarterly earnings call. The streaming service is also expanding territorially. It will be available in the Philippines later this year in partnership with telecommunications services provider Globe Telecom. Disney+ Hotstar will also be rolled out in Vietnam later this year, but the partner is yet to be announced.