Think Data, a tool to know the VOD audience in Europe

The Film Agency In 2022, it will launch the “Think Data: Bridging the data gap” tool, a report of accessible, synoptic and analytical data from the perspective of the independent audiovisual fabric.

Nowadays, looking at box office numbers is like looking at only one side of the coin. Understanding the complexity of the current audiovisual sector requires a much broader perspective that includes other distribution windows.

Unfortunately, neither the leading (OTT-over the top) nor the smaller platforms share their viewing data widely. Although there are large corporations that can afford to hire consulting firms and data measurement companies, these reports are too expensive for independent audiovisual companies, which creates a situation of total inequality and fragility in the market.

Now with Think Data, through a monthly subscription, the tool will provide Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) data analytics reports in different strategic countries. Subscribers will receive a monthly report with the top 100 movies and series, the most viewed genres as well as the countries of production. Additionally, in the future you will be able to join a short online seminar where the most relevant data will be analyzed and discussed.

These reports will allow the subscriber to analyze the market easily. Going deeper, analytical texts will take a closer look at independent titles, flagship genres and European content. The intention is to go beyond the usual box office data to better understand what is behind the top hits and what can become an opportunity for customers.

This valuable data is provided by one of The Film Agency's partners, SODA: Digital-i, a leading data classification company based in the United Kingdom that analyzes, through samples of 6,000 accounts (each used by up to 4 people for a total of 24,000 viewers) the behavior of video on demand subscribers in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. For now, they will measure viewing on Netflix and Amazon, whether consumption is inside or outside the home. SODA will soon expand to other territories and platforms that will be added to future monthly reports.

To Sarah Calderon y Celia Fumanal, CEO and director of innovation respectively at The Film Agency, "the data does not seek to validate the knowledge that one may have, but to illuminate the aspects that are not so easy to see. Think Data is a service that we created so that independent producers, sales agents and distributors can stay up to date with the transformations that the industry is experiencing. Our clients do not have the data on the VOD platforms, but they need to know what is happening with them to understand why cinemas are not taking off after the pandemic. In order to help them, we have SODA: Digital-i, the best partner for our project.”

To Elena Neira, audiovisual industry analyst, who will participate in the project through editorial articles that will be included in the reports, comments on Think Data: “an independent analysis absolutely essential for industry professionals that offers valuable information to understand trends in SVOD consumption, the positioning of platforms at a European level and reliable key indicators on the popularity of the genre and content.”

Ali Vahdati, Founder and CEO of SODA: Digital-i: "We are very excited to work with Think Data and be part of the visualization revolution in all areas of the industry. Think Data has an exceptional understanding of the challenges and opportunities that SVOD brings to content producers and creators, putting them in a perfect position to harness the power of SODA and turn it into useful and actionable information."

Main trends

Analyzing the first three months of 2021, some global conclusions can be drawn. This is a selection of the 7 most interesting premises:

European films. The most effective genres that allow European films to compete with foreign content are: children's, drama, action and comedy. Italy leads the charts as the territory with the most European films played between July and September, with 16.79% (23 million views), followed by Spain with 15.77% (31 million views). European content exceeds the figures of local productions in both territories and is ranked as the second most played content only behind productions from the US and Canada.

Europe shows a content diversity on the top charts, but does not do well when not tagged as Original.

There is a 30 day window para que el contenido nuevo funcione al más alto nivel. Algunos fenómenos escapan a esto: algunas comedias de librería americanas están en los primeros puestos de forma permanente.

Amazon casi nunca está en los primeros puestos de un país determinado, excepto con la película La guerra del mañana y Cenicienta, que llegaron al top 10 en algunos territorios. El primero fue el mayor hit del gigante del comercio electrónico, particularmente en Reino Unido (8,59% de visionados totales), España (8,35%) y Alemania (7,99%).

Contenido en español. España se erige como un gran generador de contenido dirigido a la audiencia local con éxito internacional que representa el 19,51 % del contenido de series transmitido en España, el 9,13 % en Italia y el 7,44 % en Francia. Este alto volumen de audiencia de productos españoles en territorios europeos se debe principalmente a éxitos rotundos como Élite, Valeria, Sky Rojo, El inocente o The Money Heist. Los informes también revelan que Italia y Francia tienen cierto potencial de éxito, pero no están alcanzando los niveles de España.

Los hábitos de visionado in streaming are divergent in the United Kingdom, the least diverse market and least receptive to the success of foreign languages and is not affected by global phenomena such as that of The squid game in position no. 4 or The Money Heist in position no. 8 in the latest reports. The same does not happen in other territories where the public seems more permeable to the new products and accessories in the catalogue. The UK has the highest rates for American sitcoms, with 41.94% views (774 million views).

Germany does well with thrillers and action films, particularly when it comes to English-language content, as in movies Hunting prey, Schumacher, Blood red sky y Shiny_Flakes: the teenage cybernaco, which reached the top 20 in all countries.