DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group announced it has released its mid-year 2022 digital media entertainment report for the United States.
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Unedited press release follows:
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group today released its Mid-Year 2022 Digital Media Entertainment Report compiled by DEG members, tracking sources and retail input.*
Home Entertainment Spending Rose 11.3% to $17.9 Billion in 2022 First Half, Driven by Strong Theatrical Franchises
Spending on Digitally Delivered Formats Rises Almost 14%
August 10, 2022 — Consumers spent $17.9 billion on movies and television shows consumed at home and on the go in the first six months of 2022. For the full first half, spending rose 11.3 percent from the $16.1 billion consumers spent in the first six months of 2021. Second quarter year-over-year growth of 10.8 percent, for a total of more than $9 billon, was achieved even as consumers began to take summer vacations they had postponed during the pandemic and amid economic concerns including record high U.S. gas prices and decades-high inflation.
The first half 2022 growth – including a 13.8 percent increase across all digitally delivered formats (electronic sell-through (EST), video on demand (VOD) and subscription streaming) — was fueled by an increasing flow of new theatrical releases. Those included numerous entertainment franchises such as Spider-Man, Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sing and Uncharted, released in premium and traditional windows. Theatrical new releases are historically a key driver of home entertainment spending.
Among the highlights for the Second Quarter and First Half 2022:
• Fueled by stronger release slates, digital purchases (EST) of theatrical titles rose almost 19 percent in the second quarter, and 18 percent for the full first half, including premium titles.
• Premium digital releases enjoy strong consumer interest and spending in this window is included in DEG tracking for 2022**.
• The surge in theatrical new releases also benefited premium physical formats, with spending on 4K UHD Blu-ray titles growing 33 percent for both the second quarter and the full half. High-profile catalog classics also contributed to the 4K UHD format’s performance, with collections including The Godfather Trilogy, Jurassic World 5-Movie Collection and Harry Potter – Complete 8-Film Collection among the top 4K UHD titles of the second quarter. The strong performance of the 4K UHD format bolstered the entire Blu-ray Disc category, which was off less than 6 percent for the second quarter.
• The top titles rented and purchased by consumers in the second quarter 2022 demonstrated viewers’ appetite for a variety of content coming from theaters. Among the top titles of second quarter 2022 were The Bad Guys, The Batman, Dog, Encanto, The Lost City, Moonfall, Morbius, The Northman, Sing 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Uncharted.
• Consumer spending on subscription streaming rose more than 16 percent to $7.4 billion for the second quarter, and by more than 17 percent to $14.6 billion in in the first six months of 2022, fueled by consumers’ growing number of subscriptions to services launched in the last three years.
• Box-office spending on the titles released to the home in the second quarter jumped more than 500 percent from the year earlier period, feeding consumers’ appetite for fresh feature films, although box-office remains about 40 percent less than in 2019, pre-pandemic.
* Please note, these numbers are preliminary. Final numbers will be available in early fall. Please contact DEG for an updated version.
** Digital transaction spending (EST and VOD) includes premium releases, but not Disney+ Premier Access titles. Reporting for second quarter and first half 2021 was revised to include premium titles for purposes of comparison with 2022.
