Disney confirmed that it has secured 54 million subscribers within days – creating concern for mobile operators.

Bangalore, May 07, 2020 – From just over a month since its debut, mobile video traffic from new streaming service Disney+ has reached 7 Exabytes per month, according to data from Enea. Disney confirmed that it has secured 54 million subscribers within days – creating concern for mobile operators who have to juggle the exponential demand for data during nationwide lockdowns. The analysis of traffic from Enea is based on live data gathered from over 40 networks globally. In North America and Europe, Disney+ currently represents 1.2% to 2.2% of all mobile video traffic. In terms of specific network protocols such as HTTP, Disney+ now features within the top-10 mobile video applications according to data volume across the territories in which the service has launched. As such, the future potential of Disney’s streaming service is a matter of great interest to all mobile operators.

The intensifying streaming wars and the meteoric rise of Disney+ mirrors the findings of a separate global study that was conducted by research firm Censuswide for Enea. The researchers interviewed 5,000 mobile subscribers across the USA, UK, Japan and the UAE. They found that 1 in 3 people (29%) were planning on subscribing to Disney’s streaming service.

For wireless operators, there is even more mobile video traffic to come as consumers continue to cut the cord and shun traditional broadcast technology in favour of Over-The-Top media services (OTTs). The survey revealed that 41% of respondents would consider getting rid of their multichannel cable or satellite TV service and only use the likes of YouTube, Netflix and Disney+.

John Giere, President, Enea Openwave said: “Some operators in Europe’s hardest hit regions have already experienced twice the usual amount of peak throughput during the lockdowns. While most of the OTT traffic from the likes of Netflix and Disney+ is currently running over Wi-Fi, this additional video traffic will very likely shift to wireless as lockdowns are eased.”