Big box-office titles, new releases, and franchise movies are the most streamed movie content on SVOD services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.
Based on information from NPD’s SVOD Report, from January through October 2013, the three movies streamed most from SVOD services were The Hunger Games (movie franchise), The Avengers (movie franchise), and The Lorax (recent SVOD release).
“It’s not surprising that big box office hits do well with the SVOD audience,” said Russ Crupnick, SVP, industry analysis, The NPD Group. “With The Hunger Games, The Avengers and other franchise titles, there’s the added sweetener of introducing new audiences to the franchises and improving box office receipts.”
From January through October 2013, the top three ranked TV series were all series that were still running on cable or network TV: Breaking Bad (AMC series concluded 2013), How I Met Your Mother (current series on CBS) and The Walking Dead (current series on AMC).
When NPD reviewed TV programme streaming volumes, the share of total TV streams demonstrated the popularity of shows produced solely for SVOD, like Arrested Development, House of Cards, and Hemlock Grove. Over the six weeks following the release of season-four of Arrested Development on Netflix, for example, 11% of Netflix subscribers per week streamed at least one episode, which translates into more than three million viewers. Other original series also fared well after their initial SVOD releases — with 5% streaming House of Cards, and 4% streaming Hemlock Grove.
“SVOD has been shaking up the home video market, since it was introduced in 2007,” Crupnick said. “Today, one out of four US consumers who acquired a movie or TV show through subscription, rental or purchase in the first-half of this year did so using SVOD.”