Insights

The leading SVOD platforms in the United States 2021: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+ and more

25 February, 2022

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Presented below is the section for the United States from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

United States digital original genre and subgenre preferences

  • The United States has the lowest demand share for drama originals in the report–32.3%. It is the only market where drama captures less than 40% of demand. This was the first year where the genre accounted for less than a third of digital original demand in the US.
  • Of all the markets in this report, the demand share is highest in the USA for digital original series in three genres–children’s (8.6%), documentary (10.4%), & reality (7.0%). All three of these genres grew their demand share in the US this year compared to 2020.
  • Despite some of the biggest digital original premieres of the year being superhero series, theaction/adventure genre’s share of demand actually shrank in the US this year, down from 12.8% in 2020.
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  • Comedy drama ranked higher in the US than any other market in this report. It was the second most in-demand digital original subgenre. However, the gap this year between comedy drama and the top ranked superhero series subgenre has grown from only 4% last year to a 13% difference in 2021.
  • The US is the only market in this report where children’s school-age content ranked in the ten most in-demand subgenres for the year. It was the 8thmost in-demand subgenre, just behind another children’s subgenre–cartoon.
  • American’s love of documentaries is apparent here as well. The US was the only market in this report where a documentary subgenre, true crime, ranked in the ten most in-demand subgenres.
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United States platform demand share and digital originals demand distribution

  • Netflix titles accounted for 45% of demand for all digital original titles in the United States in 2021. This is a drop of 5.5% compared to its annual share of demand in 2020.
  • Amazon Prime Video had the second largest share of demand for original content in the US in 2021 (8.8%). This has not been consistent for the entire year however. In each month of Q3 2021, Disney+ managed to have a larger share of US demand for its originals than Amazon Prime Video.
  • The US is the market in this report with the largest share of demand for content from ‘Other’ platforms not broken out here (14.5%). This reflects a maturing streaming landscape with many platforms making originalcontent for the market.
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  • The most in-demand digital original series in the United States for 2021 is Stranger Things. Despite having last released episodes in 2019, demand for the show has stayed high as fans eagerly await the next season.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from Disney+, ranked higher in the US than any other market in this report. It was the 8th most in-demand digital original in 2021. Tie-ins to new episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett kept this show relevant and in-demand this year.
  • Apple TV+’s quirky musical comedy, Schmigadoon!, saw particular success in America this year where it had nearly 9 times the average series demand in 2021.
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United States platform demand share for drama and action/adventure digital originals

  • Originals from Netflix accounted for a slim majority of demand for digital original dramas in the US (50.3%) in 2021. This is down from the platform’s 55.4% share of drama demand in 2020.
  • Apple TV+ was one of the platforms that saw the largest growth in its digital original share of demand for dramas this year. In 2021 it accounted for 7.9% of demand for all digital original dramas, up from 6.8% in 2020.
  • Across the ten markets in this report, HBO Max had the lowest share of demand for original dramas in both the US and Germany. In each market, HBO Max originals made up 3.0% of demand for digital original dramas.
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  • After a year of chart-topping superhero series, Disney+ accounted for the largest share of US demand for digital originals in the action/adventure genre. With a 30.4% share of demand here, Disney+ edged out Netflix by less than 1%.
  • Netflix reclaimed the top spot in the final two months of the year, surging to a 38.8% share of demand for original series in the action/adventure genre by December 2021.
  • HBO Max came closest to overtaking the two leaders in this genre in October 2021 when its originals accounted for 24.5% of US demand for all action/adventure originals.
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Top digital original series in the United States

Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in 2021 across all platforms:

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