But analysis of the top video-on-demand titles in recent years illuminates Universal’s decision: Data from The Numbers, a movie industry data website, finds that eight of the 20 top VOD films since 2014 are animated. Three in four films on the list had a PG-13 or PG rating, and half of the PG-13 titles are superhero movies. All of the animated films are Walt Disney Co. titles, with just one Universal film -- the R-rated “50 Shades of Grey” -- making into the top 20. And as Universal prepares to release its next big title on-demand, “The King of Staten Island,” a non-animated flick, industry insiders are unsure of how the movie will perform digitally.
Looking at Comscore Inc. data since 2015, the average number of monthly set-top box VOD transactions peaked at 749.2 million in 2016, before steadily decreasing to a low of 664.1 million in 2019. Average monthly transactions have ticked up for 2020, averaging 708.8 million through May 2020. And PwC and Digital TV Research cited by Axios projects that VOD revenue will increase in the coming years, with transactional video on-demand revenue expected to total $10.7 billion by 2023. And analysts are not surprised by the success of the animated genre on VOD platforms.
Parents have often looked to VOD films to entertain children at home, but new quarantine lifestyles have added an entirely different level to family viewing, said Bruce Nash, founder and owner of The Numbers.
“One of the big drivers for a lot of those films is that it's sort of a spur-of-the-moment purchase in order to satisfy an immediate need. And the type of films that do very well under that scenario are the ones that are very well known,” he said.
“Trolls World Tour,” a sequel to 2016’s “Trolls,” took in $100 million in rentals in its first three weeks, according to a Wall Street Journal report, with the studio able to pocket 80 percent of the digital rental or purchase price compared to about 50 percent of box-office earnings.
Other studios have followed Universal’s lead: Warner Bros. released “Scoob!” on VOD platforms on May 15 and Walt Disney Co. plans to stream “Artemis Fowl,” a live-action family film, exclusively on Disney+ beginning June 12. Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. did not respond to requests for comment.
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