Disney (NYSE: DIS) launched its new Disney+ streaming service with a series of to-be-expected technical bumps. Some consumers had trouble logging in, and wait times for live chat customer service exceeded an hour at multiple points during the day.
Those things probably point to huge interest in the service, though, and big first-day numbers for Disney. In fact, Disney announced Wednesday that it has already surpassed 10 million subscribers. That makes sense -- the Mouse House has pushed signups for the service for months, leading to millions of people joining the service in advance, all hoping to check out Disney+ on its first day.
Problems were probably inevitable, and the customer service backups will likely prove temporary as the first-day rush subsides. Still, now that it's actually here, Disney's new streaming service looks poised to become an immediate challenger to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). That's partly because people are interested in the content, and partly because Disney has stacked the deck in its favor.