TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and ads don’t seem to bother Disney subscribers.
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00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from New York City. Here's what we're watching on the street today.
00:04Disney is touting new subscriber numbers for its streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
00:11The entertainment conglomerate says it has 157 million global monthly active users for its ad-supported content.
00:19The bulk of that is coming from the U.S., where 112 million have signed up for the service.
00:25This is the first time Disney has revealed these metrics in detail.
00:29The significance is underscored by the fact Disney chose the annual Consumer Electronics Show for the revelation.
00:36These numbers reveal that as traditional cable TV operators are struggling to hold viewers,
00:42streamers are finding success even with commercials.
00:46But it's not just a simple apples-to-apples comparison.
00:50While traditional media has a standard for counting viewers for advertisers, the streaming industry does not.
00:57Take Disney, for example. That 157 million global number is derived by counting those who watch a program
01:04for at least 10 seconds on Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+.
01:09Disney then multiplies that by how many people it thinks is watching the video on that account.
01:15It counts viewers on all three platforms individually, which means viewers can be double or triple counted.
01:22The number is also averaged over a six-month period.
01:26Despite the complexities, Disney subscriber numbers still show ad-supporting streaming is gaining momentum.
01:33Cost, no doubt, is a major factor.
01:35The price for the Disney ad-free streaming bundle costs $16.99 a month,
01:40compared to the average monthly cable bill, which costs around $100 a month.
01:45That'll do it for your daily briefing.
01:47From New York City, I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.