The Memorial Day box office plummets by 36%. Latency, unnatural breaks, and slates are hurting ad experiences. Netflix’s bundling angle is unclear—all this and more in this week’s podcast.
Memorial Day weekend delivers the worst box office in 30 years (3:00)
The domestic box office for Memorial Day weekend was down 36% from the same weekend in 2023. The total 2023 box office to date is down 22% from the same period last year but is down 41% from the last pre-pandemic year. The large selection of quality content available in streaming services at relatively low prices is likely to blame for the steep decline.
Furiosa was a big disappointment, netting just $32 million over the four days. It barely beat Garfield, which earned $31.1 million.
Pluto TV is trying to reacquaint people with the pleasures of watching a movie at the theater. It has brought back its “Free Movie Weekend” for this coming summer. Twelve independent theaters in twelve states will show a free movie from Pluto TV over the summer.
New data raises questions about Netflix’s bundle strategy (9:00)
New data from Antenna show that two-thirds of Netflix subscribers have been using the service for more than six months. On the other hand, about two-thirds of the next top 6 SVOD services have been subscribed to their service for six months or less. Hub data shows that Netflix is the biggest draw to any bundle it participates in.
The data makes me wonder why Netflix is participating in the Comcast StreamSaver bundle. Unless it is getting all, or almost all, of its $7 monthly fee from the $15 a month StreamSaver, it is likely losing money on the bundle.
Experience counts in ad-supported streaming (16:30)
New Freewheel data shows that 78% say slow or buffering ads bother them, 71% dislike unnaturally ad interruptions, and 33% don’t like seeing the “we’ll be right back” message. The data reinforces the fact that bad ad experiences can drive away viewers who would otherwise continue watching.
Pent up demand for Venu Sports? (23:00)
Data from Horowitz Research suggests a lot of pent-up demand for the new JV from Disney, Fox, and WB Discovery called Venu Sports. We discuss the data and the viability of Venu without the NBA.
