Worldwide Streaming Subscriptions Pass One Billion During Pandemic
March 18 2021 - 11:29AM
Dow Jones News
By R.T. Watson
The number of subscriptions to online video streaming services
around the world reached 1.1 billion in 2020, according to data
released by the Motion Picture Association on Thursday -- a new
milestone marked amid the Covid-19 pandemic that kept people locked
down, seeking their entertainment at home.
Meanwhile, global box-office revenues plunged by more than $30
billion in the year to $12 billion, as movie theaters were shut in
the U.S. and in other parts of the world, according to the
association. The drop comes after box-office revenues reached a
record $42.3 billion in 2019, the MPA also said. And China passed
the U.S. last year as the top country for box-office revenues, it
said.
The shift in consumer and Hollywood's behaviors last year
spurred historic growth at companies like Netflix Inc. and Walt
Disney Co.'s streaming services. As people turned to the digital
options available to them at home and on mobile devices, streaming
subscriptions rose 26% from the previous year. In the U.S. alone,
the number of streaming subscriptions rose by 32% last year to a
total of 308.6 million, the MPA said.
Even now, as movie theaters in many parts of the world have
reopened, the direct-to-consumer streaming model is the dominant
growth strategy at Hollywood's biggest studios and at the Silicon
Valley technology giants that compete with them. The world's
largest streaming service, Netflix, recently surpassed 200 million
subscriptions globally. Disney boasts more than 100 million
subscribers to its Disney+, which isn't even two years old.
While box-office revenues sank globally, gains in digital home
entertainment revenues helped offset those losses, according to the
MPA. Revenues from direct-to-consumer offerings, which includes
streaming and online rentals, jumped to $61.8 billion last year, up
from $47.2 billion in 2019, it said.
Mirroring the industry at large, the substance of the Motion
Picture Association's annual report has evolved in recent years as
the revenues generated by digital, direct-to-consumer distribution
now dwarf global box-office revenues. In 2019, the MPA, which is
considered the top advocate for Hollywood's biggest movie studios,
welcomed Netflix to its ranks even though the company doesn't rely
on movie theater ticket sales as part of its business model.
With the number of subscribers and streaming services swelling,
Hollywood is churning out more content, especially episodic series,
which engage customers for longer than feature films. In 2020, the
number of scripted and unscripted series created by American
production companies and distributed to online platforms soared to
a total of 537 shows, compared with 381 the year before, the MPA
said.
As new streaming services enter the U.S. market -- Comcast Corp.
and ViacomCBS Inc. have also launched platforms -- Amazon.com Inc.
and AT&T Inc.'s HBO Max are following in Disney and Netflix's
footsteps by ramping up efforts to boost their share of
international markets.
During the past year's widespread lockdowns, some of the
nation's biggest movie theater chains struggled to stay afloat as
box-office revenues in the U.S. and Canada plummeted to $2.2
billion in 2020, down from $11.4 billion in 2019, according to the
MPA report.
In 2020, China surpassed the U.S. for the first time as the
world's top box-office market, generating $3 billion in ticket
sales, the report said.
U.S. theaters are reopening in key states like New York and
California, but so far attendance has been sluggish as many
Americans appear hesitant to return to indoor public spaces en
masse.
As of Friday, the world's largest theater chain AMC
Entertainment Holdings Inc. says it will have 98% of its U.S.
theaters operational. That is a big turnaround after the pandemic
nearly forced the company to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection.
Hollywood's biggest studios are hoping moviegoing will rebound
this summer. Would-be blockbusters like Disney's Marvel film "Black
Widow," and the latest installment of the Fast & Furious
franchise, "F9" -- distributed by Comcast's Universal Pictures --
will test U.S. moviegoers' willingness to once again head to the
multiplex. "Black Widow" is slated for May while "F9" is out in
June.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2021 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
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