The Disney+ mobile app is off to a roaring start in Europe and the UK just days after it launched earlier this week.
Third-party app analytics firm App Annie revealed that the Disney+ app has been downloaded over 5 million times on launch day, possibly thanks to millions of residents having to shelter-in-place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Disney+, the streaming service from the Walt Disney Company, launched in the early hours of Tuesday morning across the United Kingdom and six European countries, but at reduced bandwidth and video quality after a government request to ease the strain on broadband networks.
Cult of Mac confirmed that the Disney+ app and service are available on the Apple TV App Store in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
Disney has delayed the launch of its Disney+ streaming service by two weeks in France. This is as a result of a request by the French government.
Disney has also agreed to a European Union request for streaming video providers to scale back streaming quality by “at least” 25%. This is to “ensure the smooth functioning of the broadband infrastructure” at a time when the internet faces the strain of more heavy traffic while people are stuck home due to the coronavirus crisis.
Netflix is stepping up to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by creating a $100 million fund that will go to support production and other workers in the industry.
The moves comes after production on nearly all major TV shows and movies has come to a grinding halt as more states and cities in act stay-at-home mandates.
With U.S. cinema chains like AMC, Cinemark, Landmark, Alamo Drafthouse and Cineplex Odeon closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Walt Disney Company moved up the online release of Pixar animated film Onward two weeks.
TikTok is the hottest app going right now, and plenty of other developers are trying to hitch their wagon to TikTok’s proverbial star by building apps that function as “enhancements” to the mega-popular video editing and sharing app.
According to new data from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, of the 480 million installs generated by 2019’s top 20 new apps, almost 38% were video and photo editors and sticker apps designed to enhance the experience of using TikTok or Instagram. That’s quite the ecosystem!
U.K. cellular network O2 has brokered a deal with Disney to become the UK’s exclusive mobile network distributor for the Disney+ steaming service.
The deal means that new and upgrading monthly customers get six months of Disney+ on O2 as a special offer. This mirrors a similar deal by Apple to offer a year’s free subscription to Apple TV+ for anyone buying a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac computer.
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AT&T’s latest cable replacement for cord-cutters, AT&T TV, launched nationwide today, replacing the streaming service DirecTV Now.
The carrier is offering big discounts to customers that sign a 24-month contract for AT&T TV which allows you to stream live sports, news, shows, and on-demand titles for a monthly fee. The only problem is it might not be much cheaper than your old cable bill.
Disney+ is as affordable as Apple TV+ for subscribers in the United Kingdom if they preorder the service ahead of its debut next month. An annual subscription is available today for just £49.99 — £10 off the usual price.
That’s exactly the same price you’ll pay for a year of Apple TV+, but of course, Disney is offering you a lot more content.
Walmart is allegedly looking to sell its video-streaming service Vudu right as the streaming wars are starting to heat up.
NBCUniversal is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Vudu from Walmart, which could give the company another valuable asset as it prepares to launch the Peacock streaming network in a couple of months.
iPhone and iPad users can already sign up to download Quibi, the mobile-only streaming service created by former Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Quibi was quietly posted to the App Store at the end of last month. News that it’s available for pre-order just surfaced today. You won’t be able to start streaming Quibi shows until April, but if you want to make sure you don’t miss the launch you can pre-order it now.
Apple TV+ is about to get even more competition in the form of a new streaming service currently in development by ViacomCBS.
Now that the Viacom and CBS merger was approved at the end of 2019, a new report claims company execs are plotting a way to combine the current CBS All Access service with Viacom’s assets, among which are Paramount’s trove of over 3,600 movies.
Apple TV+ will have almost 26 million paying subscribers by 2025, a new report claims. That’s just a fraction of the 126 million subs that rival streaming service Disney+ is likely to have at that point in time.
Both services launched within two weeks of each other in November 2019. While Apple hasn’t revealed any TV+ subscription numbers, Disney CEO Bob Iger says Disney+ already has 28.6 million subs. That’s more than Digital TV Research thinks Apple TV+ will have five years from now.
The Walt Disney Company just unleashed its first quarterly earnings report for 2020 revealing that its Disney+ streaming service is off to an impressive start.
Paid subscribers for Disney+ more than doubled from 10 million during the first week of availability, to 26.5 million users by the end of 2019. CEO Bob Iger said the service has continued growing since then and currently has 28.6 million subscribers as of today.
Executives at AT&T have quickly learned that building a streaming service to compete with Apple TV+ and Netflix isn’t going to be cheap. During the company’s latest earnings call, AT&T revealed that it has already lost $1.2 billion during the creation process of HBO Max that is set to launch this May.
Apple’s first earnings report of the decade is barely 24 hours away, and Wall Street is praying for another historic quarter.
After defying gravity for the last 12 months, Apple’s soaring stock price suffered its biggest single-day loss in more than six months today. Tuesday’s Q1 2020 earnings, which will cover sales from the 2019 holiday season, could provide the jolt AAPL shares need to start jumping up the charts again. However, certain hot topics — and what Apple says about them — could signal a downturn ahead.
A new analyst report suggests 33.6 million customers were ready and waiting to subscribe to Apple TV+ before its November launch and estimates that number could grow to 40 million subscribers by the end of this year.
If accurate, the numbers from TV industry market analyst Ampere Analysis would put Apple TV+ ahead of Hulu and Disney+, and already at more than 50% of Netflix in the United States.
Apple TV+ is currently enjoying a rather lengthy spell without competition from Disney+ in Europe. But that’s going to be cut short after Disney today announced it will expand earlier than planned.
Aside from saying that Apple TV+ pulled in “millions of users” in its first week, Apple hasn’t shared any stats about how Apple’s streaming service is doing. Disney+, on the other hand, seems to be blowing away the competition.
Two months after Disney+ launched, its app has been downloaded close to 41 million times on the App Store and Google Play app store. In total, it has generated an estimated $97.2 million in user spending.
TikTok was the most popular iOS app worldwide in Q4 2019, as measured by total number of downloads. In both the App Store and Google Play, TikTok downloads hit an all-time high of almost 220 million installs. On iOS alone, it racked up 42 million.
In the United States, TikTok ranked no. 2 after the newly launched Disney+.
This week on The CultCast: Apple is readying a new display technology that could bring a huge change for MacBook Pro and iPad; our favorite Black Friday hauls; and it’s time for our favorite Gear of the Year! Plus our favorite movies, TV shows, and all the other stuff we loved most in 2019. It’s a party and you’re invited.
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This week on The CultCast: Everything you need to know about the new 16-inch MacBook Pro! Plus, our first impressions of this hot new machine. And we discuss Disney+, and why it may beat Netflix and Amazon as the best streaming service today.
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Disney+ is off to a smashing start in its quest to dominate the streaming wars.
After launching on November 12, the Mickey Mouse company revealed this morning that it has already surpassed 10 million sign-ups. That makes the “millions” Apple TV+ pulled in during its first week look pretty weak.
The Disney+ app is officially available to download through the App Store. The subscription service features an extensive back catalog plus new shows, including the Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian.
And, just like that, the streaming war just got a whole lot more intensive!
