Beyond Bragging Rights: The $1.2 Billion Streaming Boost of Best Picture Nominees

As awards season culminates in Hollywood’s biggest night at the Academy Awards, Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics model highlights how certain Best Picture nominees have gone on to become major streaming revenue drivers. This data reveals that across major platforms, the 2020-2024 Best Picture nominees have generated over $1.2 billion in cumulative global subscriber revenue so far this decade. The movies that have had the biggest revenue impact have been Netflix originals.

Though prestige film typically represents a more narrow commercial lane, the vast majority of these films received full theatrical releases complete with hefty marketing campaigns. Coupled with the buzz from Oscar nominations and wins, consumer awareness and a desire to sample can be high. Then again, these films do the bulk of their business in theaters, which generates box office revenue, while streaming exclusive films garner nearly all of their engagement on-platform.

Tracking the performance of each year’s nominees on streaming, we can see that on a per-quarter basis, 2022’s nominees lead the pack, with nearly as much cumulative revenue as the 2020 nominees, which received a two-year head start.  2022’s nominees included the blockbuster “Dune” and several streaming exclusive premieres, like Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” and “The Power of the Dog.” 

2021’s batch of nominees has notably lagged the financial performance on streaming compared to other years, and has been eclipsed by the 2022 and 2023 nominees despite having more time to generate subscriber revenue.  These films, whose eligibility window ran from Dec. 31, 2020 to Feb. 28th, 2021 were most directly impacted by the disruptions of the COVID pandemic.  The 2021 Best Picture nominees also lacked a massively popular hit like other recent years have had (eg. “Joker” (2020), “Dune” (2022), or “Top Gun: Maverick” (2023)).

When looking at the highest streaming revenue-generating quarters from a Best Picture nominee, Netflix accounts for four of the Top 5, and six of the Top 10.  Netflix’s “All Quiet on the Western Front ” reigns as the biggest single-quarter revenue earner, hauling in $24.7M for the platform in Q4 2022 alone. Apple TV+’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” delivered the strongest revenue quarter from a non-Netflix Best Picture nominee in Q1 2024 as an impressive acquisition driver for the streamer. 

Box office heavy hitters like “Dune,” “Oppenheimer” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” rank in the bottom half of the list, showing how movies that deliver big in theaters aren’t necessarily the most impactful when it comes to subscriber revenue for streaming.  The theatrical experience is hard to beat for the action and visual effects of a “Dune” or “Avatar,” while 2023’s “Barbenheimer” cultural moment had passed by the time those movies became available on streaming.

A streaming industry that is more effectively monetizing content than in years past coupled with several broadly popular hits including the second installment of “Dune” and “Wicked,” may put the 2025 nominees in a good position to be one of the most financially rewarding crops of nominees for streamers in recent years.

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