DEG Releases Q3 2024 Digital Media Entertainment Report

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DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group released its third quarter 2024 Digital Media Entertainment Report for the United States.

For more information visit: www.degonline.org

Unedited press release follows:

Consumer Spending on Digital Home Entertainment Approached $13 Billion in 2024 Third Quarter as Subscription Streaming Growth Continues Strong

Digital Rental Resilience Shows Consumer Engagement With New Releases

Consumers spent more than $13 billion on movies and television shows consumed at home and on the go in the third quarter of 2024, a gain of more than $2 billion over consumer spending during the comparable 2023 quarter.

For the first nine months of 2024, overall consumer spending growth was more than 22 percent, with spending approaching $39 billion. The year-to-date 24 percent growth across all digitally delivered formats – electronic sell-through (EST) 2, video on demand (VOD) 2 and subscription streaming3 – was driven by growth of almost 28 percent in subscription streaming and smaller gains in digital rental transactions. Spending on physical formats 4 and EST declined for the third quarter and the first nine months.

Among the trends for the Third Quarter and First Nine Months of 2024:

  • The 2024 third quarter was fueled by a 26.7 percent increase in subscription streaming, which rose to $11.9 billion, from $9.4 billion in the third quarter of 2023, as targeted and general entertainment services continued to add subscribers with new content including sports, pricing options and ad-supported tiers. Subscription streaming now accounts for 91 percent of consumer spending on home entertainment.
  • Internet-delivered digital rentals (VOD) of new theatrical releases grew 7.7 percent for the quarter and 5.2 percent for the first nine months, as consumers continued to embrace feature-length theatricals released for home viewing in the premium window.
  • Total spending on digital transactions (including all VOD and EST, but excluding subscription streaming) showed resilience, falling about 10 percent for the quarter and 8 percent for the year-to-date, despite a larger than 20 percent drop in box-office spending on titles released to the home. Theatrical new releases are historically a key driver of home entertainment spending and softness in this area contributed to declines in EST.
    Entertainment Report compiled by DEG members, tracking sources and retail input.
  • From a transactional slate standpoint, the 2024 first nine months suffered from tough comparisons with 2023, when WBD’s Barbie, Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and TV’s Yellowstone were among the hits in home entertainment windows.
  • Among the best-performing titles across transactional formats in third quarter 2024 were Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony); Blink Twice (Amazon MGM); Despicable Me 4 (Universal); Dune Part 2 (WBD); Inside Out 2 (Disney); It Ends With Us (Sony); Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Disney); The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate); A Quiet Place Day One (Paramount); and Twisters (Universal).
  • Consumer spending on physical product declined 25.7 percent for the third quarter and 23.4 percent year-over-year, at least partially due to the weaker release slate. Being less dependent on the theatrical slate, collectibles ran counter to the trend, however, as 4K UHD catalog releases grew 10 percent year over year, and titles in Steelbook packaging grew 25 percent, according to studio insights.
  • Ad-supported premium AVOD and FAST content reached an estimated advertising revenue of $5.8 billion in the third quarter of 2024, according to estimates from Omdia5, as more major streamers diversified their offerings to include lower cost subscription plans with ads. Omdia estimates show ad revenue grew more than 41 percent in the quarter. Ad revenue is not included in DEG’s overall tally of consumer spending on home entertainment, but is included here to lend a broader perspective broader view of revenue generated by streaming content.

1 Please note, these numbers are preliminary. Contact DEG for updates.
2 Digital transaction spending (EST and VOD) includes premium releases.
3 SVOD data sourced from Omdia.
4 Physical product category includes consumer spending for sell-thru transactions.
5 Premium ad-supported video data sourced from Omdia. Represents revenue from AVOD (ad- supported video on demand) and FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) services specializing in premium, typically long-form, content.

  • Includes Discovery+, Disney+, Freevee, Max, Hulu, LG Channels, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Samsung TV+, Tubi, Vix, Vizio WatchFree+, as well as legacy TV Everywhere services and other premium AVOD/FAST.
  • Excludes social video services such as YouTube or TikTok.
  • For hybrid services, such as Hulu, the data represents only the advertising revenue and does not include subscription revenue generated by the hybrid tier.
  • Data represents the U.S. only and is preliminary. Ad revenue estimates sourced from Omdia.

For reference, DEG provides a list of digital entertainment terms and definitions on its web site here.

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