VOD Movie Sales Skyrocketed By 67% During March

According to Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), the coronavirus pandemic has fueled digital home entertainment sales to all-time highs.

As reported by Deadline, total spending on digital transactions rose by 48% during March 2019, hitting $596 million in revenue. Sales for theatrical films on VOD rose by 67% over the same period.

In fact, those numbers are probably much, much higher. As Deadline notes, DEG does not include sales from movies released on PVOD—which stands for premium video-on-demand—as those movies skipped their theatrical releases (or saw very limited releases) and went straight to the digital arena for purchase.

Overall, U.S. consumer home entertainment spending between January and March of 2020 hit $6.9 billion, a 15 percent increase from the $6 billion consumers spent on home entertainment product in the same period a year earlier.

Subscription-based streaming services have seen an immense boost as well. The DEG pointed to research from the IHS Markit that spending on subscription streaming increased by 27% between January and March. That should be no surprise, given Disney+ recently overtook Netflix as 2020’s most-downloaded streaming app and Roku’s streaming hours rose by 49% during the first quarter of the year.

The Oscar-winning Parasite has thrived thanks to streaming as well, as the Best Picture winner became Hulu’s both most-streamed independent film and most-stream international film in just one week’s time.

Because movie theaters (which saw a 5% drop in box office earnings in March) are currently shuttered, many recent films that did see extended theatrical releases like Jumanji: The Next Level, Richard Jewell and 1917 saw immense boosts from quarantine viewing.