The North American box office decreased by 2% last year to $11.1 billion, dragging down total global box office dollar growth, according to the Motion Picture Association of America's latest 2017 Theatrical and Home Entertainment Market Environment report.
Why it matters: The rise of streaming in the U.S. is eating at box revenue growth. In the U.S., home entertainment spending for content released digitally was up 20% from 2016 to 2017. U.S. physical home entertainment spending — on Blu Ray and DVD — continues to decline.
- While global box office revenues grew by 5% year-over-year to $40 billion, those revenues were driven by international revenue growth, which increased 2% year-over-year to $29.5 billion.
- A lot of that digital growth comes from subscription video on-demand services (SVOD), like Netflix. SVOD content spending was up 28% since 2016. The number of subscriptions to online video services in the U.S. increased by 21%, or $151 million, while subscriptions to every other type of Pay TV service (Cable, satellite, IPTV) declined.