Motion Picture Association: Streaming Soars Amid Box Office Free Fall

A new report from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) showed that, although the pandemic decimated 2020 box office numbers, subscriptions for streaming services topped 1 billion for the first time.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought numerous challenges to economies worldwide, but the film, television, and streaming industry “kept audiences connected and entertained,” Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), said in a press release on Thursday (March 18).

The MPA’s 2020 THEME Report indicated that subscriptions to streaming services broke records, with 1.1 billion subscribers around the world, a 26 percent boost in year-over-year growth. All told, global revenue in the home and mobile market surged to $68.8 billion, a 32 percent increase from the previous year.

Just in the U.S., the number of streaming subscribers hit 308.6 million, a 32 percent increase from 2019. The U.S. home and mobile market went up 21 percent, reaching $30 billion.

The global box office, however, is another story, with revenues free-falling to $12 billion, a decline of over $30 billion from 2019, as the pandemic took hold and movie theaters around the globe temporarily shuttered. The decline follows record box office revenue in 2019 of $42.3 billion in 2019, the report showed.

American and Canadian box office revenues plummeted to $2.2 billion in 2020, down from $11.4 billion in 2019, according to the MPA report. China topped the U.S. in box office sales, generating $3 billion.

This year’s report makes special note that comparing box office totals between countries is difficult due to regional differences in the timing and scope of pandemic lockdowns and regulations. Taking into account the different parameters, the top box office markets outside the U.S. and Canada were China, with $3 billion; Japan, with $1.3 billion; and France, with $500 million.

“Theatrical and home entertainment remain two essential parts of this dynamic and iconic industry, and I am confident that movie theaters will experience a great comeback in the months ahead,” Rivkin said.

Streaming services did well amid the pandemic’s special circumstances, but the market is still heating up, with numerous new services competing for users’ attention and dollars. This year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival made use of satellite screening locations with reduced seating in 28 cities nationwide.