In the third quarter of this year, U.S. audiences spent $9.1 billion on movies and TV shows for home consumption, a 13.1 percent year-on-year increase, according to DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.
Per DEG, the gains were driven by continued gains in SVOD takeup, the improved quality of theatrical releases and what it bills as a “favorable shift” in transactional windowing.
For the first nine months of this year, U.S. home entertainment spend was up more than 12 percent to almost $27 billion. Year to date, the sector experienced 14.5 percent growth all digital formats (EST, VOD, subscription streaming), driven in part by theatrical franchises such as Top Gun, Jurassic World, Minions, Sonic the Hedgehog, Marvel and DC.
Consumer spending on subscription streaming rose more than 17 percent for both the third quarter and year-to-date, to $7.7 billion in Q3 and $22.3 billion for the first nine months of this year.
There were 98 new theatrical releases in the first nine months of this year, 25 percent more than last year. In Q3, theatrical EST purchases were 27 percent. DEG also found that the share of box-office value where titles were released simultaneously on SVOD and transactional decreased from 32 percent in the third quarter of 2021 to 19 percent in Q3 2022. With some studios pricing theatrical new releases for sale (EST) as well as VOD in the premium window, the share of box-office value that was released using a premium model increased from 37 percent to 45 percent. The top three EST titles in the first nine months of 2022 were Top Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Jurassic World Dominion; all had later windows to streaming.
