Disney+ and Hulu Dominate TV Advertising for 2020

If it seems like you have seen a lot of Disney+ this past year, you are not alone. I am not talking about the millions who have signed up for the service, I am referring to a massive advertising blitz on traditional TV. Disney+ lead the list of streamers in total TV advertising impressions for 2020, Disney+’s older, more mature, streaming service Hulu took the second spot.

An impression is defined as the viewing of an ad on a TV screen for at least three seconds and over the last 12 months Disney’s direct-to-consumer division has had an enormous number of impressions. Disney+ had 18.3 billion impressions this last year and Hulu came in second with just under 15 billion. Those are a lot of eyeballs watching these ads. 

Clearly TV spots are not the extent to which these streaming services reach potential new customers. These numbers do not take into consideration digital campaigns, print, and other promotional opportunities through their parks, cruises, and coverage by news agencies.

These are huge numbers for Disney, not just in terms of total impressions, but also when you look at the increase of impressions based on the prior year. Disney+ is up 425% and Hulu is up 144%, with the former only debuting in the final two months of 2019.

If you are curious how these numbers stack up to the other streaming giants, Amazon Prime Video had 11.2 billion impressions, Peacock 6.7 billion, HBO Max 5.1 billion, and, somewhat surprisingly, Netflix had 2.3 billion. Giving Disney+ nearly 9 times more advertising impressions than Netflix.

Here is a list of TV Advertising Impressions for 2020, along with their change from TV Advertising Impressions in 2019:
Disney+ – 18.3 billion (+425%)
Hulu – 15B (+144%)
Amazon Prime Video – 11.2 billion (+25%)
Peacock – +6.7 billion (N/A)
Apple TV+ – 6.6 billion (+61%)
Fox Nation – 5.5 billion (+96%)
Discovery – 5.3 billion (N/A)
HBO Max – 5.1 billion (N/A)
Sling TV – 5 billion (-21%)
CBS All Access – 4.4 billion (+331%)
ESPN+ – 3.3 billion (-27.5%)
Food Network Kitchen – 3 billion (+31%)
Amazon Fire TV – 2.8 billion (4%)
Quibi – 2.8 billion (N/A)
AT&T TV – 2.7 billion (+1,568%)
Netflix – 2.3 billion (+3%)
BET+ – 1.9 billion (+269%)
Spectrum TV On Demand – 1.6 billion (-47%)
Motor Trend OnDemand – 1.4 billion (+80%)
AMC+ – 1.2 billion (N/A)