A startup called Generated Media has released a tool called Anonymizer, which uses an A.I. system to analyze your face a

In what has been a tough year for Disney, the streaming service has offered some respite. But more than that, Disney has shown the company a thriving future. “The real bright spot has been our direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek during the earnings call in November.

Like so many other companies, Disney appeared destined to exit 2020 with a trail of disappointments, disasters, and crises needing management. The pandemic forced the company to shutter its revenue-generating theme parks, delay the release of highly anticipated movies in cinemas, and lay off thousands of employees. But while these events triggered huge quarterly losses and harmed public perception of the iconic entertainment giant, the company was able to simultaneously lean into its Disney streaming platform — fortuitously launched in November 2019 — as a much-needed lifeline and its brightest light at the end of the tunnel.

Before its launch, analysts from research firm MoffettNathanson expected Disney to gain around 20 million subscribers by October 2020, but after raking in 10 million subscribers on the very first day, the streaming platform continued its meteoric rise through the new year and the pandemic. As it celebrated its first birthday this November, Disney boasted over 73 million subscribers. To put that in context, Disney expected to reach 60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024, but it has already blown past the lower estimate and is expected to reach the higher estimate by mid-2021. This makes Disney the second largest US-based streaming platform, only behind Netflix — an impressive feat for a platform that is just a year old. But Disney didn’t reach 73 million people with its brand new platform alone. It was generously helped by a streaming platform from India: Hotstar.

Second, Hotstar makes money not only through paying subscribers but also through ads on its free tier and live sports events, a revenue stream Disney does not have in other markets. Revenue from advertisements is estimated to be around $114 million this year, and half of this will come from IPL, bringing us to the third point.

Despite its large subscriber base, Hotstar does not make a lot of money for Disney. Its VIP tier currently costs Rs. 399 ($5 U.S.) per year, and the premium tier costs Rs. 1,499 ($20 U.S.) per year. In comparison, Disney charges U.S. customers $70 per year. These super-cheap plans have rendered the average revenue per user for Hotstar to be a mere $2.18 while the rest of the Disney subscribers contribute $5.30 on average. Hotstar currently makes $39 million per month, a tenth of the $333.12 million Disney as a whole makes.

Hotstar entered the streaming market long before Disney. Star India, an Indian media conglomerate owned by 21st Century Fox, launched the streaming platform in 2015. Up until then, the over-the-top streaming market, in which streaming content is directly offered to viewers via the internet rather than through cable and television companies, was unexplored in India. Within six days from launch, the Hotstar mobile app hit one million downloads faster than any other entertainment app in history, heralding the digital era that others have now populated. Then in 2016, telecom giant Jio brought tens of millions of Indians online for the first time by offering dirt-cheap data plans and nationwide coverage, helping to turn Hotstar into a household name in the process.

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to the president will always face these sorts of obstacles, and will likely only see major success — from a purely scientific perspective — when the country’s demands match the scientific community’s focus, such as in the post-War period, or when the Oval Office occupant happens to enjoy science for science’s sake, as President Obama clearly did. Scientists heading to the White House would do well do consider Ed David’s warning: “Anyone coming to the science advisory post without considerable experience in politics is in for some rude shocks.”

Hotstar’s biggest selling point is the rights it holds for sporting events, specifically cricketing tournaments like the annual IPL and the quadrennial ICC World Cup. These are some of the most-watched sporting events in the world, and they bring in significant ad revenue to Hotstar. In 2019, for example, Hotstar set the record for the most number of people watching a live event on an over-the-top service with over 18.6 million people tuning in for the IPL finals. This record was eclipsed during the ICC world cup semi-finals the same year when over 25 million viewers tuned in. One drawback to this subscriber base is the fall in numbers once the tournament ends, but Hotstar tackles this by offering attractive yearlong plans that offer better bang for the buck than monthly plans. This way, the users are tied in for at least a year, long enough for the next season of the tournament to begin. And in addition to cricket, Hotstar also broadcasts events from other popular sports like soccer, tennis, Formula 1, badminton, hockey, kabaddi, martial arts, and e-sports. This makes Hotstar the preferred destination in India for any sporting event, something that even ESPN, Disney’s sports-focused behemoth, does not match.

Since the revelation of the astounding subscriber figures, financial analysts have revised their long-term estimates. Morgan Stanley now expects Disney to reach 230 million subscribers by the end of 2025, and MoffettNathanson forecasts the service will reach nearly 160 million subscribers worldwide by 2024.

The platform reached this figure by adding a staggering 10 million subscribers to the eight million it had in April this year, contributing the lion’s share to Disney ’s recent additions. The pandemic-forced shutdowns, the 2020 edition of the IPL, a series of new movie releases, and Hotstar’s launch in populous Indonesia are thought to be the biggest drivers of this growth.

Hotstar is India’s largest streaming platform, and it currently contributes 18 million subscribers to Disney ’s 73 million, meaning that one in four Disney subscribers is from Hotstar.

Undeterred by these financials, Disney continues to bank on Hotstar for many reasons. While Hotstar could have existed as a standalone platform like Disney’s other streaming platforms Hulu and ESPN in the U.S., the potential market reach is too good to pass up. Unlike in the U.S., where Disney has a long way to go before it catches up with Netflix, the platform already has far more subscribers in India. The Indian over-the-top streaming industry is highly competitive with over a dozen players, including U.S. giants Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, which are estimated to have fewer than five million and two million subscribers respectively. Hotstar gives Disney a strong foothold in the second-most populous country in the world.

In addition to the free tier, Hotstar also has two subscription-based plans: VIP and premium. Meanwhile, Disney users in other countries have a simple, single-tier plan. The VIP plan gives members access to more content as well as tons of live sports events ranging from cricket and soccer to Formula 1 and e-sports. Most notably, it includes access to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and English Premier League (EPL), the most-watched cricket and soccer tournaments in the world. The Premium tier further gives access to a collection of international movies and TV shows. This includes access to Disney originals, HBO originals, and shows from ABC, Showtime, and Fox — a content catalog that far exceeds what the standard Disney subscriber can access. These perks make Hotstar the most popular streaming platform in India with over 18 million paying subscribers.

When Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019, Hotstar came under Disney’s wing. And since April 2020, Hotstar has been rebranded as Disney Hotstar and its subscribers counted among those of Disney . Thus, technically, Disney ’s 73 million subscribers were not all acquired over the last year.

Disney Hotstar, which is only available in India, is starkly different from the standalone Disney to which subscribers in the U.S. and other countries have access. To start, Hotstar has a free tier that hosts a trove of Indian films and shows after their initial broadcast on the Star television network, which comprises over 60 channels in nine different languages. This hugely popular free tier is ad-supported and has over 300 million active users. Disney in the other markets is only available as a paid service; Disney ’s U.S. users cannot access Hotstar content without separately paying for it, but Indian Hotstar users can access Disney .