Disney+
Disney's streaming app: Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars in one place
First principle
Families have always gathered around stories they already love. Disney+ brought Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars into one app of Disney's own, safe to hand to a child.
The needs it meets
- EntertainmentCore
- Passing time and unwinding, carried off by stories, music and video.
Why it wins
- You know what you will get: the films and characters people grew up with, plus kids' profiles a child cannot leave and PINs on the rest.
- New Disney films arrive here after their cinema run, and Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar originals stream only here: each new chapter is a reason to keep paying.
- In the US it also holds Hulu and ESPN hubs, making a children's service a household one, and in 2025 Disney said Hulu would be folded fully into it in 2026.
- One subscription plays on several screens at once at no extra cost, so everyone in a family can watch their own thing.
What keeps it ahead
- Brand and IP
- People knew it already: the brand, the characters, the stars.
- Endless supply
- Something new every day: uploads, a licensed library or AI.
How it makes money
SubscriptionsAds
Viewers pay monthly or yearly, and in the US a cheaper plan carries ads that Disney sells itself; subscriptions bought in the app are what put it on the grossing chart.
What a small team can take from it
Little to copy directly: the moat is characters generations grew up with. What carries over is owning your own: reuse and grow one small world in every game you make, so each new one adds to something only you have.
This week
- World: top grossing apps, number 9, in 8 of 10 countriesUK Google Play 6 · France Google Play 9 · US Google Play 11 · Mexico Google Play 11 · UK App Store 12 · Mexico App Store 13
updated 29 October 2026
- Developer
- Disney
- Category
- App · Entertainment
- Stores
- App Store, Google Play
- First in a list
- 29 October 2026
Sources
This is our analysis and judgement, drafted by an AI agent from the store pages and public sources and read by a person before it went up. Every figure has a source; where there is none, we give no figure. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].