Wondering who is winning in the streaming wars in the United States in Q1, 2021?
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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 US is the market in this report with lowest share of demand for drama (32.5%) and action/adventure (12.5%) originals. The Q1 2021 demand shares for these genres are down from the 34.7% and 12.8% respectively in 2020.
- Of all the markets in this report, the demand share is highest in the USA for digital original series in six genres. These are animation (5.9%), children (9.0%), comedy (19.0%), documentary (9.9%), reality (6.2%) & variety (2.1%).
- The documentary genre (9.9%) saw some of the largest growth in demand share from its 2020 average, up from 9.0%. This genre saw growth through 2020 and this result shows that trend continuing in Q1 2021.
- American audiences love comedy. Not only is the demand share for digital original comedies well above the global average (15.6%), the sitcom and comedy drama subgenres rank higher here than in any of the markets in this report.
- The USA's most in-demand subgenre of Q1 2021 is superhero series, a change from the top subgenre in this market in 2020 which was sci-fi drama.
- The United States is the only market in the report where two children’s subgenres are among the ten most in-demand. Cartoon and children’s (school age) were the 7th and 8th most in-demand subgenres in Q1 2021.
United States Platform Demand Share and Digital Originals Demand Distribution
- Netflix titles accounted for 48.1% of demand for all digital original titles in the United States in Q1 2021. The platform managed to average above a 50% demand share in 2020, but has dipped below the 50% threshold this quarter.
- Similar to Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have each lost ground compared to their 2020 demand share (9.7% and 8.0% respectively).
- The main driver of these changes are newer platforms gaining share. Disney+, Apple TV+ , and HBO Max have grown their demand share from 2020. HBO Max in particular surpassed Apple TV+’s demand share this quarter.
- The most in-demand digital original series in the US for Q1 2021 is Cobra Kai. It had 50.4 times the demand of the average title in the US. This is the only market in this report where Cobra Kai is the top show for the quarter, indicating a specific appeal to US audiences.
- The US was also the only market in this report where demand for The Mandalorian outranked WandaVision for the quarter. That, combined with the fact that Star Wars: The Clone Wars ranks higher in the US than other markets we looked at hints at the popularity of Star Wars in the US compared to international markets .
- Ted Lasso was 19.6 times more in - demand than the average series in Q1 2021. This was Apple TV+’s most popular original series in the US for the quarter. However, Servant, with 16.3 times the average demand ranked higher in the US than in any market in this report.
United States Platform Demand Share for Drama and Action /Adventure Digital Originals
- 53.2% of demand for original drama series was for a Netflix original. While the streamer has fallen below 50% digital original demand share overall, it still accounts for a majority of demand expressed for drama originals.
- Apple TV+ accounted for the largest share of demand for drama originals (7.1%) in the US out of the markets we looked at.
- Drama originals from HBO Max have carved out a respectable 3.3% demand share in the US. While the year - old streamer was able to leverage existing DC Universe originals to boost its demand in the action/adventure space, new original series like The Flight Attendant and Raised by Wolves are growing the platform’s share of demand for drama originals.
- The US share of demand for action/adventure originals from Disney+ has overtaken Netflix’s share in Q1 2021. Highly in-demand series like WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and The Mandalorian fall into this category and account for a majority of Disney+ overall original demand.
- HBO Max had its largest share of demand for action/adventure originals in the US out of the markets we looked at. This is driven by the popularity of the former DC Universe originals here. Titans and Harley Quinn rank higher in the US than in other markets.
- The share of demand for action/adventure originals from Other platforms is higher in the US than any other market we looked at. Among the in-demand action shows in this Other bucket is Die Hart, formerly a Quibi original, but since acquired by Roku.
Top Digital Original Series in the United States
Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in Q1 2021 across all platforms in the US:
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