It was no surprise that smash-hit Broadway show Hamilton made a big splash when an officially filmed version debuted on Disney+, but just how big was surprising.
According to data from 7Park, a data analytics company, the musical was the most viewed title across all platforms for the period of July 1 to July 5, with Hamilton premiering mid-way through that period on July 3. 80% of Disney+ users watched the musical, and it accounted for a whopping 87% of total time spent on the platform across all users.
Disney+ paid $75 million for the rights to the filmed version of the show with plans for a theatrical release in 2021, but with streaming at an all-time high due to the pandemic (and production of shows shut down for that same reason, leaving content in short supply), the decision was made to push it straight to streaming a year early.
Probably not coincidentally, Disney+ dropped its free trial shortly before Hamilton debuted. The move seems to have paid off, as Disney saw a 72% increase in mobile app downloads from previous weeks in June.
But despite that incredible surge, Disney+ usage overall is still lagging behind a little from its April peak – the same peak and decline that nearly every streaming platform saw.
This data comes from 7Park’s new anonymized panel, which measures the number of unique streamers that watch a specific piece of content and how much time they spend on the platform overall. At the moment, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu and Netflix are being tracked, with Peacock and HBO Max coming soon.
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