Disney+ is off to a pretty nice start, with the new streaming service being downloaded more than any other app in the U.S. during the fourth quarter, according to data shared by research firm Sensor Tower.
The Disney+ app was downloaded 31 million times during Q4 — more than doubling TikTok, the second-most downloaded app during the quarter in the U.S — per Sensor Tower’s “Data Digest” report released on Monday afternoon. The 31 million installs were also more than Hulu and Amazon Prime Video had all year. Adding to the “unprecedented” results, as Sensor Tower described it, is the fact Disney+ didn’t launch until Nov. 12, which was midway through the quarter.
A major deal with Verizon certainly helped boost Disney+ downloads, but the service has also been helped by the strong response to the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” as well as a massive library of classic shows and movies. And as expected with anything Disney, the service has been a big moneymaker so far: Disney+ made more than $50 million in revenue in its first month, topping both HBO Now and Showtime. The $50 million in revenue also topped the best month ever for HBO Now, which coincided with the final season of “Game of Thrones.”
A look at the big Q4 debut from Disney+, via Sensor Tower
Overall, Disney+ generated 16% of the SVOD market’s Q4 U.S. revenue from apps, narrowly edging past Netflix and trailing only YouTube, which brought in 23% of the market’s total revenue.
Sensor Tower’s results do not include how many times Disney+ was downloaded on streaming devices like Apple TV and Roku. The report based its findings from downloads from both Apple’s App Store as well as Google Play.
Disney+ will face even more competition as 2020 unfolds, with NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi all preparing to launch new services this spring.
