BY SACNILK

Mumbai, October 11 - The covid-19 pandemic has heavily favored streaming platforms as people around the world have preferred to watch movies and shows in the comfort of their homes. It is the result that streaming platforms have seen a rapid rise in the number of subscribers in the last one and a half years as theaters were closed due to the pandemic. ## According to the latest forecast, Walt Disney's Disney+ will have the most number of paid subscribers by the end of 2025. Though Disney+'s speed has slowed up a bit in terms of gaining subscribers it is still one of the fastest-growing digital platforms, and now, analysts say the streamer will reach more subscribers than Netflix by 2025. ## Research firm Digital TV Research shared the prediction in a report (via THR), projecting that the number of subscribers to Disney+ would reach 284.2 million in 2026. Netflix will in 2026 have 270.7 million subscribers. In a February report, the firm had forecast that Disney+'s user base would surpass Netflix’s in 2026. The latest forecast is, however, down from 294M for Disney+ and 286M for Netflix from the earlier prediction. ## According to Digital TV Research, three platforms, Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video "will control nearly half the world's SVOD subscriptions by 2026. Disney+ will be the biggest winner, overtaking Netflix in 2025. ## Disney+ will add 140 million subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to bring its total to 284 million. About 121 million of Disney+'s subscribers (43 percent of its total) in 2026 will be in the 13 Asian countries under the Hotstar brand. Amazon Prime will hit 243.4 million users in the said period.## The report further states that overall global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) will increase by 491 million between 2021 and 2026 to reach 1.64 billion. Of them, China and the U.S. will account for 49 percent of the global total then. While both China and the U.S. had a similar number of subscriptions by the end-2020, China's growth will be slow due to government pressure. China is expected to have 354 million subscribers by 2026 as compared to the U.S. forecast of 450 million users.## Stay tuned...