Talk about a backhanded compliment. Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings admits to being impressed by Disney+'s first year in the streaming wars but he also believes they won't have hit on the level of their most recent success, Bridgerton, anytime soon.
During Netflix's quarterly earnings interview, via "Deadline", Hastings had nothing but praise for the growth that Disney+ has shown in its first year. However, in the same breath, Hastings said no matter how impressed he was, he doesn't believe that they have a Bridgerton-level hit and they won't in the near future:
It’s super-impressive what Disney has done. It’s incredible execution for an incumbent to pivot … so that’s great. And it shows that members are interested and willing to pay more for more content because they’re hungry for great stories. And Disney does have some great stories. It gets us fired up about increasing our membership, increasing our content budget and it’s going to be great for the world that Disney and Netflix are competing show by show, movie by movie. We’re very fired up about catching them in family animation — maybe eventually passing them, we’ll see, a long way to go just to catch them — and maintaining our lead in general entertainment that’s so stimulating…I don’t think you’re going to see [a Bridgerton] on Disney anytime soon.
Bridgerton premiered on the streamer over the Christmas holiday and it quickly became a huge hit for Netflix. The show, which follows the eight close-knit siblings of the Bridgerton family as they look for love and happiness in London high society, is on course to become Netflix's fifth-biggest original series launch with 63 million households projected to watch across its first 28 days. The biggest show on Disney+ is their Star Wars series The Mandalorian, which wrapped up its second season right before Bridgerton aired. There is no doubt that The Mandalorian has been very successful for Disney+ but the streamer hasn't touted numbers on the level of Bridgerton for the series.
Hastings does admit that Disney+ has them beat when it comes to family animation but they seem game to do what they can to catch up to Disney on that front as well. In fact, Hastings wants Netflix to compete with Disney+ in multiple arenas, even original content. During Disney's Investor Day, the platform announced a slew of new content for 2021 and years beyond that so Netlfix will definitely have some competition. To Netflix's credit, along with their original shows, the streamer committed to releasing a new film on the platform every week this year so they definitely came to play as well.
During the quarterly earnings interview, it was also revealed that Netflix now has more than 200 million subscribers globally, with 8.5 million subscribers added in the fourth quarter of 2020. At the beginning of December, Disney+ announced that they passed 86 million subscribers, up from the 73 million subscribers they reported in November. We should know about their growing numbers when they have their quarterly interview soon. As for right now, it's clear that Netflix is still king but it looks like Disney+ is their closest competition while HBO Max, Hulu, and many others are just waiting to be invited to the party.
Do YOU agree with the Netflix CEO? Do YOU think Disney+ won't have a Bridgerton-level hit in the near future?