By Akanksha Rana
(Reuters) - Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co said demand for its much-anticipated streaming service, Disney+, was well above its expectations in a launch on Tuesday marred by complaints from users about glitches and connection problems.
Disney+ is relying on its extensive library of movies and TV shows as well as a new slate of content to take on market leader Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) TV+, Apple Inc's newly launched streaming service.
Disney shares were up about 2%, while Netflix was down 1%.
"The consumer demand for Disney+ has exceeded our highest expectations. ...we are aware of the current user issues and are working to swiftly resolve them," Disney said in a statement.
Some users who tried to access the service were greeted by an image of "Mickey Mouse" on a blue screen, with a message asking them to exit the app and try again. Many others had trouble finding the Disney+ app in Apple's App Store.
It was not immediately clear how many users were affected by the outage.
"Not too surprised but @disneyplus looks like it's already falling over. On FireTV Stick can't load main page (Unable to connect to Disney+) and couldn't play The Mandalorian (some account issue)," user @pmhesse https://twitter.com/pmhesse/status/1194231076094390279 tweeted.
"Hopefully it's worked out by tomorrow's treadmill time."
"The Mandalorian," the latest in the "Star Wars" movie and TV franchise, is an eight-episode live-action series which stars "Game of Thrones" actor Pedro Pascal as a helmeted bounty hunter.
"While it's easy to focus on the temporary problems, there's no doubt that this also shows an enormous demand for Disney's services," said Clement Thibault, an analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com.
"Big launches often have their hiccups when consumers are fighting to be the first to have a given service."
Users who accessed Disney+ were upbeat about content from the Marvel superhero universe, the "Star Wars" galaxy, "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation and the National Geographic.
"Today is the perfect day to just stay home all day on my couch in my PJ's binging all of my favorite Disney movies on #DisneyPlus," tweeted @JulieDwoskin https://twitter.com/JulieDwoskin/status/1194251837131624449.