U.S. home entertainment spending up 10.9% to $8.7 billion in 1Q 2022

Friday, May 13th, 2022 
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group logo

DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group today released its First Quarter 2022 Digital Media Entertainment Report compiled by DEG members, tracking sources and retail input.*

  • Home Entertainment Spending Rose 10.9% to $8.7 Billion in 2022 First Quarter
  • Digital purchases of theatrical titles increased 17.3%, fueled by renewed box-office activity

Consumers spent $8.7 billion on movies and television shows consumed at home and on the go in the first quarter of 2022. Spending rose almost 11 percent from the $7.8 billion consumers spent in the first three months of 2021, a growth achieved even as consumers increasingly sought out-of-home experiences after almost two years of limited activity in response to the spread of COVID-19.

The 2022 increase – including a 13.8 percent increase across all digitally delivered formats including electronic sell-through (EST)**, video on demand (VOD)** and subscription streaming – was fueled by an increase in new theatrical releases, which are historically a key driver of home entertainment spending, released in premium and traditional windows.

Among the highlights for the First Quarter 2022:

  • Digital purchases (EST) of theatrical titles rose more than 17 percent, including premium titles, helping to drive an almost 7 percent increase in EST overall in the quarter.
  • Premium releases enjoy strong consumer interest and spending in this window is included in DEG tracking for the first time in first quarter 2022**.
  • While still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, box-office spending on the titles released to the home in the first quarter jumped more than 500 percent from the year earlier period, feeding consumers’ appetite for fresh feature films.
  • Among the first quarter’s best-performing titles across transactional formats were American Underdog, Dog, Dune, Encanto, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, No Time to Die, Sing 2, Spider-man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Yellowstone Season 4.
  • Subscription streaming rose almost 17 percent in the quarter from the year earlier period, as directto-consumer services including AMC+, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock and others continued to add subscribers at a healthy rate.

* Please note, these numbers are preliminary. Final numbers will be available in early summer. Please contact DEG for an updated version.
** Digital transaction spending (EST and VOD) includes premium releases, but not Disney+ Premier Access titles. Reporting for first quarter 2021 was revised to include premium titles for purposes of comparison with 2022.

Q1 – 2022 – U.S. Consumer Spending ( $in millions)

                                          Q1-2021    Q1-2022        YOY
                                        ---------  ---------  ---------
Sell-Thru
Sell-Thru Packaged Goods All              $479.31    $388.48    -18.95%
Sell-Thru Including EST                 $1,082.39  $1,032.05     -4.65%

Rental
Total Rental (excluding VOD)              $235.98    $196.12    -16.89%
Total Rental (including VOD)              $797.89    $697.20    -12.62%

Digital*
Electronic Sell-Thru (EST)                $603.08    $643.57      6.71%
VOD                                       $561.91    $501.08    -10.83%
Subscription Streaming (SVOD)**         $5,929.27  $6,929.19     16.86%
Total Digital                           $7,094.26  $8,073.84     13.81%

Total U.S. Home Entertainment Spending  $7,809.55  $8,658.44     10.87%

Box Office in Billions                       $0.19     $1.18    522.11%

* Digital transaction spending (EST and VOD) includes premium releases, but not Disney+ Premier Access titles
** SVOD data sourced from Omdia (technology.informa.com). Disclaimer: The data is not an endorsement and reliance is at a third party’s own risk. *Digital transaction spending (EST and VOD) includes premium releases, but not Disney+ Premier Access titles

Disclaimer: This report contains information compiled from sources that the DEG believes have accurately reported such information, but which the DEG has not independently checked or verified. As such, the DEG does not warrant its accuracy or reliability. The report is not intended to provide investment or securities advice.

Links: DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group