Report: PVOD Window Stable, SVOD Shrinking

Theatrical exclusivity windows were already shrinking prior to the pandemic, but once COVID hit things then got shaken up considerably.

We saw the introduction of a premium video-on-demand (PVOD) release tier with high-priced rentals/purchases coming much sooner followed by the more regular VOD releases along with eventual releases on subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) libraries like Netflix, Disney+ and Max.

Now a report by market research firm Omdia has looked at the last four years of releases and come to the conclusion that while the gap between cinema release and PVOD release (labelled TVOD here) has actually increased since 2021, the gap between the cinema release and appearance of the same film on an SVOD service has considerably shrunk.

Tracking only wide releases, they found the length of theatrical exclusivity from cinema to PVOD was around 27 days in 2021, 38 in 2022, 39 in 2023 and then 37 days in 2024.

However, the time between a movie’s theatrical release and its eventual SVOD premiere fell from 128 days in 2021 to 110 in 2022, 104 in 2023 and just under 100 in 2024 – the first time it has gone below the 100-day mark.

They also found the Top 20 grossing films averaged 43 days in 2024, and just over half of those films that opened above $50 million held to windows of at least 45 days.

Of the studios, Disney is the one with the longest theatrical exclusivity window of all the major studios – 61 days, which is 20 days longer than any other studio.

Source: Flat Panels HD

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