Category: Movies

Our dataset allows us to track the viewing behaviours of a large number of Netflix viewers. Using...

About our clickstream data This article uses our unique clickstream dataset to analyse the viewing...

About our clickstream data This article uses our unique clickstream dataset to analyse the viewing...

Disney’s mastery of the Home Entertainment window has long been a cornerstone of its movie revenues. The supply was carefully controlled by Disney (films “returned to the Disney vault”), prices were well managed to avoid bargain-bin pricing and the marketing stood above even their closest rivals (you never bought a Disney movie, you “took home the magic”). It is perhaps surprising that it took so long to take full advantage of the burgeoning SVOD market.

The sci-fi genre is a broad church. It includes big-budget action spectaculars, mid-budget family fare and inexpensive twisty thrillers. For this analysis, we have largely used IMDb’s classification, which applies multiple genres per title and in which sci-fi accounts for 3.9% of titles. This includes films many would regard as primarily sci-fi (such as Star Wars) and titles with sci-fi tropes or plot elements (i.e. Despicable Me 3).

When Netflix launched its video streaming service in 2007, its US catalogue comprised of around 5,000 movies and TV episodes – fewer than 6% of the 85,000 titles available via their DVD rental service at the time. The headline titles designed to draw consumers were not new releases, but instead were slightly older classics, such as The Matrix and Super Size Me. Just twelve years later, Netflix and the landscape have both changed considerably. Audiences have come to expect a steady stream of new movies on the platform, as well as a trove of exclusive releases.

A well-worn battle line in the film business is that of the Home Entertainment release window. Exhibitors are seeking to maintain a long period of exclusive access to new titles, while the Studios are constantly pushing for a free hand in the choosing of Home Entertainment release dates. But what of the window between theatrical and SVOD release?