DEG: Streaming Again Fuels Surge In Consumer Home Entertainment Spending In 2021

February 7, 2022

"Yellowstone"

Thomas K. Arnold, Media Play News

Consumer spending on home entertainment in 2021 rose nearly 8% from the prior year to a record $32.3 billion, fueled once again by a surge in subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), or streaming, according to estimates released Feb. 7 by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

The trade group says consumer spending on streaming climbed 20% to an estimated $25.3 billion, or more than 78% of the total.  

Consumer spending in all other segments declined in 2021, after rising significantly in 2020 due to movie theater closures and stay-at-home orders triggered by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales were down 19.5% to an estimated $1.97 billion, from $2.45 billion in 2020. Disc rentals fell 21.2% to $822.7 million from $1.04 billion the prior year.

Digital transactional sales were off 19.2% to an estimated $2.42 billion from nearly $3 billion in 2020, while digital transactional rentals slipped 23.4% to $1.77 billion from $2.32 billion the year before.

The DEG cautions, however, that digital spending totals do not include premium video-on-demand (PVOD) revenues. The trade group pegs PVOD revenue at about $525 million, not counting Disney+ Premier Access. (Media Play News stopped carrying the weekly Watched at Home chart because Disney does not provide revenue for titles that were initially released to home audiences at a premium price.)

In the fourth quarter, the DEG reported, total consumer spending on home entertainment rose more than 11% to $8.6 billion, the highest growth rate of the year’s four quarters.

Streaming once again led the way, with spending up more than 19% to an estimated $6.64 billion.

Transactional spending fared significantly better in the fourth quarter than in any of the year’s previous three-month periods, with digital sales down less than 3% and rentals down 6.2%. The DEG notes that “purchases of TV product were particularly strong in Q4, rising to $258 million, an 11% increase above the same quarter in 2020, and 54% over the 2019 quarter.” Season 4 of Paramount’s “Yellowstone” was the top title of the year across all transactional formats, with the “Yellowstone” franchise generation more than $61 million in fourth-quarter consumer spending.

Digital rentals of theatrical new releases through internet retailers such as Vudu, Google Play and Redbox On Demand in the fourth quarter rose about 3% from the same period in 2020, and 29% over spending in the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019.

Physical media also did much better in the fourth quarter, with sales down just 14.2%. Consumer spending on 4K UHD Blu-ray Discs, the DEG says, was up more than 6% in the quarter.

Top titles across both physical and digital transactional formats include The Croods: A New Age; F9: The Fast Saga; Free Guy; Godzilla vs Kong; Harry Potter – Complete 8-Film Collection; Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard; Monster Hunter; No Time to Die; A Quiet Place Part II; Venom: Let There Be Carnage; Wonder Woman 1984; and all four seasons of “Yellowstone.”

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