Among the many other aspects of life that have changed over the past two years, the pandemic has had a profound influence on consumer behavior in media and entertainment. Lockdowns forced the closure of movie theaters, which, in turn, led to delays in movie releases and shifts to releases via streaming platforms. Though movie theaters have since reopened, studios and media companies are still grappling with many questions about business models in the evolving landscape. But the good news is, the outlook for 2022 is promising, especially for theatrical releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the home front, streaming has seen a continual uptick in recent years\u2014and consumers have been provided with a litany of streaming services to choose from. In such a competitive landscape where content is the key to success, it\u2019s critical to keep up with audiences in real-time. To understand how consumers are engaging with entertainment across platforms and to understand ever-evolving drivers of choice, we fielded a survey of 1,229 U.S. adults in November 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stunningly successful release of Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/em> in mid-December displayed that audiences are eager to get back to theaters\u2014even amidst rising COVID-19 cases around the world. The fact of the matter is that movie-goers missed going to theaters while they were closed; forty-five percent said they \u201cmissed it a lot,\u201d and 35% expect to be \u201cgoing more often\u201d in the next three months. This is great news, given all the upcoming tentpole releases in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why do they choose the in-person experience over staying home? For over half of movie-goers, it\u2019s as simple as \u201cviewing movies on the big screen\u201d (53%) and \u201csound quality\u201d (50%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But not all things are equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consumers, especially older audiences who will be critical in lifting box office in 2022, consider Action\/Adventure<\/em> (75%), Science Fiction\/Fantasy<\/em> (61%), and Horror<\/em> (60%) films \u201cbetter in the theater\u201d than at home. Other genres are viewed as sufficient for the small(er) screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those that do prefer staying at home\u2014including 16% who say they\u2019ll go to theaters less going forward\u2014they frequently cite that it\u2019s \u201ctoo expensive\u201d (57%) or that they \u201cgot used to watching movies at home\u201d (43%). The perception is that it is cheaper at home, they feel more comfortable, and they can pause the movie when they so choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the comfort that comes with at-home entertainment, the rise of streaming and PVOD (premium video-on-demand) releases did serve a purpose in COVID times. In fact, PVOD \u201cbuyers\u201d are superfans who plan to continue to drive business both in the theaters and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, we learned in 2021 that, by and large, the theatrical window is still critical for success. Bringing older audiences back will be key to success in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The streaming landscape remains hyper-competitive with \u201call hands\u201d for capturing subscribers in 2022. Consumers intend to add to their array of services this year, with 27% of streamers saying they\u2019ll add a subscription in the next three months, and only 19% saying they plan to cancel a subscription. Overall, younger males intend to add more than females.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it is all about \u201cquality content\u201d to draw subscribers, in choosing a streaming service, three-quarters of consumers say that \u201cvalue for the money\u201d is the most important factor, followed by having \u201cat least one show they love\u201d (70%) and \u201cmaking it easy to find new shows to watch\u201d (70%). When asked about streaming services\u2019 performance in these key areas, particularly the discovery of new shows, consumers said that more than half of the services \u201cdo not make it easy to find new shows to watch.\u201d Likewise, they report that most services \u201cdo not make great recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the absence of strong recommendations from streaming services themselves, recommendations from family and friends (43%) are the top source of discovery for new shows or movies, which is not surprising. Might streaming services be able to play a role here by adding in-platform word-of-mouth functionality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key is to hook audiences, and streamers are most likely to invest time in a show that has \u201cbelievable plot twists\u201d (61%), \u201ccontinuous, seamless stories\u201d (61%), \u201ca resolution by the end of the series\u201d (58%), and \u201csomething to root for\u201d (56%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an industry, we need to keep up with the pace of change and apprise our business partners of shifts in audience wants and needs to be competitive. We also need to better understand fandom and how audiences engage with intellectual property across touchpoints to capitalize on all opportunities across screens. Lastly, in this day and age, we need to scale content research programs to quantify demand locally, regionally, and globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStreaming wars wage on in 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n