Last year, Max led other platforms in the U.S. by a wide margin in total demand for holiday movies streaming on the platform — matching its leading position in terms of demand for its movie catalog. But this year, Max’s lead in demand for holiday content has shrunk considerably, while other platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+ have higher demand for holiday movies going into the festive season compared to last year.
Two factors seem to be driving the drop in demand for Max’s holiday catalog this year. First, several holiday movies streaming on Max simply had higher demand last year. Notably, “Shazam!,” which had particularly high demand at the end of 2022 following the premiere of its spinoff, “Black Adam,” and ahead of the premiere of its sequel in March 2023. The movie had about half the demand this November compared to last year.
Second, the number of holiday movies on Max was smaller in November compared to last year. A few holiday classics the platform had last year, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” are no longer available to stream on Max. In fact, so far in December, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is the most in-demand holiday movie in the U.S. and not available on any of these streamers.
Other platforms are catching up with investments in holiday movies. Hulu has seen the most growth in this regard. Even though the platform still has some of the lowest demand for holiday movies, the total demand for holiday movies on the platform in November this year was greater than in December 2022, traditionally the month when holiday demand reaches its peak. As of November, Hulu had overtaken Paramount+ with more demand for its holiday movies. The addition of “Die Hard” and “The Muppet Christmas Carol” has helped beef up the platform’s holiday catalog going into this December.
Disney+ doesn’t have a huge Christmas catalog, but it features two of the five most in-demand Christmas movies so far this season — “Home Alone” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” It is not only the original “Home Alone” movie but the entire franchise that forms the cornerstone of the Disney+ holiday catalog.
Every year, a big spike in the average demand for holiday movies continues through the year’s end. In 2022, the average demand for holiday movies grew by over 50% from the first week of December to the final week of the year. If that pattern holds again this year, there is a lot of growth yet to happen in demand for holiday movies. What remains to be seen is whether all platforms will experience a similar boost in audience attention on holiday content as Christmas gets closer or if some have a Christmas surprise in store for the year’s final weeks.
Christofer Hamilton is a senior insights analyst at Parrot Analytics, a WrapPRO partner. For more from Parrot Analytics, visit the Data and Analysis Hub.