Soaring SVOD prompts US entertainment spend to over $32bn in 2021

The Year-End 2021 Home Entertainment Report – compiled by DEG members, tracking sources and retail/platform input – showed a record- breaking period for home viewing as consumers limited out-of-home activity in response to the spread of Covid. In the fourth quarter, overall consumer spending rose more than 11%, to $8.6 billion, representing the strongest growth quarter of the year.

The study showed consumers spent $7.729 billion on digital entertainment purchases (EST), rentals (VOD) and subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 11.26% on a yearly basis and $29.5 billion for the full year, a jump of 7.83 % compared with full year 2020. Spending on subscription streaming rose 19% for the fourth quarter to total $6.639 billion and 20% for full year 2021, amounting to $25.268 billion.

The non-subscription VOD sector experienced a decline of less than 7% in the fourth quarter, its strongest performance of the year, supported by an increase in theatrical new release activity. Rentals of theatrical new releases through internet retailers (iVOD) in the fourth quarter rose about 3% over the same period in 2020, and 29% compared with spending in the pre- pandemic fourth quarter of 2019.

The Year-End 2021 Home Entertainment Report revealed fourth quarter digital purchases (EST) were a driver for $717 million in consumer spending, down slightly from the record-breaking 2020 Q4 period. While theatrical trends are impacted by the lack of robust reporting for premium transactions, the study showed 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.

Demonstrating TV’s strength, season 4 of Yellowstone (pictured) was the leading title of the year across all transactional formats and the Yellowstone franchise generated more than $61 million in spending during the fourth quarter. Rapid TV News