Chris Pratt headlines Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios)
August 7, 2023
Media companies that own branded subscription streaming video services love to promote the arrival of tentpole theatrical releases onto their respective platforms. But what impact does streaming access have on a movie’s transactional sales?
New data from Samba TV suggests quite a bit.
Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 generated 1.3 million U.S. households streaming on Disney+ during the first five days (L+4D window) of movie’s streaming access. At the same time, 482,000 U.S. households watched the movie on Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox Digital or other online platform, according to Samba, which tracks viewership intel across 48 million connected televisions worldwide.
Almost 170% more U.S. households opted to stream Guardians on Disney+ than buy or rent the movie, according to Samba.
Looking at some other movies that were released theatrically, then on VOD, followed by streaming: About 2.1 million U.S. households streamed Black Panther Wakanda Forever on Disney+ in the first five days, while 2.6 million U.S. households streamed Avatar The Way of Water on Disney+ and Max during the same window.
More than 811,000 U.S. households streamed The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Peacock during the initial four-day window.
Samba didn’t report the VOD household viewership for the aforementioned three movies.
“Guardians made a successful landing on Disney+ over its opening weekend on the platform … prov[ing] that Disney+ Marvel fans will soak up new content from the franchise as it hits the streamer,” Cole Strain, VP of measurement products at Samba TV, said in a statement.
Gen Z households (ages 20-24) and younger millennials (ages 25-34) households both overindexed based on viewership of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 streaming during the L+4D window at plus 4% and plus 7%, respectively.
Younger millennial households overindexed by the highest margin (plus 17%) based on viewership of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Peacock) during the L+3D window. Of the top 25 largest designated market areas, Seattle overindexed the most (plus 39%), followed by Sacramento, Calif., (plus 36%) and Denver (plus 34%) for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
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