The number of subscribers has nearly doubled during 2021, boosted during the summer by exclusive Olympics coverage.
By the end of September, Discovery+ subscribers had reached 20 million, up from 11 million in February. The increase was aided by its launch in Canada and the Philippines. In the UK, subscriber numbers increased during the Olympics as viewers realised that free-to-air coverage would be limited.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games reached over 372 million people in Europe across Discovery’s TV and digital platforms. The games delivered 1.3 billion minutes of Olympics content on its streaming services.
Announcing the latest set of figures, David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery said,
“We made great strides in the quarter operationally, financially and creatively. The team drove solid momentum in our direct-to-consumer business, which we grew to 20 million paid subscribers at quarter end on the strength of our global brands and fan-favourite content, including the Olympic Summer Games and Shark Week.
Additionally, we delivered double-digit growth in both advertising and distribution revenues, as we doubled next generation revenues year over year. This strong performance once again drove very healthy cash flows during the quarter, further strengthening our balance sheet and financial profile. We are very excited about our pending merger with WarnerMedia and the opportunity to bring these two companies together, combining iconic and globally cherished franchises and brands, and positioning us to more efficiently drive global scale across the combined portfolio. ”
Between July and September, Discovery also netted $290 million of additional revenue. This was driven by sublicensing of Olympics sports rights to broadcast networks throughout Europe.
Global streamers – subscriber numbers
discovery+ 20 million
Disney+ 116 million
Netflix 209 million
COMPARISON OF GLOBAL SUBSCRIBER FIGURES (ROUNDED TO NEAREST MILLION) AUTUMN 2021. FIGURES BASED ON EACH STREAMER’S LATEST QUARTERLY FIGURES AS PUBLISHED BY 12:00 GMT, 3RD NOVEMBER 2021.