Where the Subs Will Fall: The Roundup

 Has the era of total Netflix domination finally drawn to a close? Not quite, but we’ve seen some massive gains in subscribers across other top streamers for 2022. The entertainment layer with Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, crunches the figures. 

                                                        Brandon Blake


Netflix Predicts A Slow Down

Still seen colloquially as ‘the’ streaming giant, Netflix managed to add 8.3M subscribers in quarter 4 for a total of 222M global paying subscribers, 75.22M in North America, but took some heavy market criticism when it revealed its Q1 2022 target will be only 2.5M. Despite the market sulk, however, that is a fairly reasonable conservative approach as the pandemic-wrought boom grinds down to a halt and the real business of keeping market traction starts. Predicted ARPU for North America is $14.78.

Disney Booms

Disney+ and Hotstar have added 11.7M subscribers for a total of 118.1M, and a global ARPU of $4.41. Hulu has gained 1.2M subscribers, topping out at 40.9M, with ARPU sitting at almost $13. Its SVOD+ service has 4.3M subs, a growth of about 300,000, with $87.01 ARPU. Lastly, ESPN+ has gained 4.2M to reach 21.3M subscribers and an ARPU of $0.42.


Disney may well have been the ‘winner’ for Q4, with their Beatles documentary Get Back and Marvel offerings pulling in fans. From here, it’s harder to assess how other streamers performed, as unlike Netflix and Disney, there’s little transparency in subscriber and ARPU figures. Let’s take a broader look, however.


Amazon Prime Video has not given us any subscriber numbers since April, where the service sat at ‘more than’ 175M subs. The drawcard of some hot new fantasy shows, however, means it must have seen some subscriber onboarding. Apple TV gives us near nothing, although an insider source suggests there are less than 20M Apple TV+ subscriptions in North America. 

Greater Transparency

NBCUniveral, however, has finally started to open up about its stats. They give us 24.5M US active accounts, and over 9M paid, with Peacock’s average ARPU approaching $10. Paramount+ has also offered us an ARPU of $9, with 56M global streaming subscribers, 32.8M belonging to Paramount+. Pluto TV has seen rapid growth, with 64.4M active users up from 10M, and an ARPU of $1.64 globally and $2.54 domestically. This growth boom across both services rivals Disney’s, and it’s the first time they’ve been willing to reveal solid figures. 


Overall, while several key players on the streaming scene continue to treat data like gold dust, we’re seeing greater transparency across the board regarding ARPU and subscription numbers. Where to for 2022? We will keep you updated.


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