Disney+ may have only launched in November 2019, but it's already surpassed 100 million subscribers, Disney executives confirmed during the company's March 9 shareholder meeting.

Last time Disney publicly announced subscriber numbers was in February as part of its Q1 earnings report. At the time, it said that---as of January 2, 2021---there were more than 94 million subscribers. That gave a pretty clear runway to the 100 million mark, which Disney's streaming service has now officially passed.

The Enormous Success of Disney+

Disney executives did not reveal the exact day that the milestone was reached. The service likely received a big boost from WandaVision and Raya and the Last Dragon, both of which were eagerly anticipated, and have been well received by critics and fans alike.

"The enormous success of Disney Plus ... has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content," Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a press release, quoted by The Verge. "In fact, we set a target of [more than] 100 new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic."

The success of Disney+ has taken everyone by surprise---Disney included. Executives at the company originally predicted between 60-90 million subscribers by 2024. Obviously, it has obliterated that target. It is now targeting 300-350 million subscribers across all the Disney-owned streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Star+, and HotStar by that year.

To continue with this kind of growth, Chapek noted that Disney's "direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel" its ascension.

Netflix vs. Disney+

Disney+ still isn't at Netflix numbers. At the end of 2020, Netflix subscribers hit 200 million worldwide. That makes it double the size of Disney+ when it comes to subscriber count. However, given the fact that Netflix announced its streaming service in early 2007, and started aggressively expanding worldwide in 2010, Disney+ is doing amazingly well for a service that launched an entire decade later.

No company in the world has a collection of intellectual properties quite like Disney, of course. In addition to all the classic Disney animated movies and TV shows, Disney+ also features the Marvel movies, Star Wars movies and TV shows, The Simpsons series, iconic movies like Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire, Sister Act, and more. And, just like Netflix, more shows and movies continue to appear on the streaming service every single week.