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Global Digital Originals Demand Report - Q3 2017 PDF
Global Digital Originals Demand Report - Q3 2017 PDF
Executive Summary
}} New Netflix titles Ozark, Marvel’s The Defenders, and Stranger Things. In its one year anniversary since its
Castlevania drove high demand across most markets. Netflix release, the sci-fi thriller appears within the top 5
Ozark made the top 25 in all but one market, and topped across every market.
the chart in the US and UK. Castlevania appeared
throughout all reported countries, and Marvel’s The }} Season 1 of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale wrapped up in
Defenders ranked in 8/10. Q2, but lingering buzz along with big Emmy win’s drove
continued demand for the dystopian drama on every
}} Season 3 of Narcos was an international hit, making the top 25 chart—and it landed in the #1 spot in Canada
top 10 in each market. It was the top Q3 series for France, and Australia.
Germany and Singapore.
}} Star Trek: Discovery was released towards the tail end
}} Marketing efforts combined with the anticipation of Q3, but it’s already rivalling other huge digital original
surrounding October’s sophomore season has hits and penetrating 7/10 of the top 25 charts. It is
drummed up demand in all reported countries for slated to be a top contender across markets for Q4.
Argentina Germany
Brazil France
Sweden Singapore
Contents
Introduction 4
Quarterly Events 5
Methodology 28
Introduction
Quarterly Events
OTT news
The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards aired September 17th proved to be a historic night for digital originals.
Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale won big taking home the awards for best series (drama) and lead actress (drama)—
both first time wins for streaming services in these categories. Other wins included Netflix’s Master of None
and The Crown. Overall, Netflix and Hulu scored 32 Emmy’s upending the big three major networks (NBC,
ABC, CBS) which pulled in a total of 26. While Amazon was shut out for the 2017 awards, all three top streaming
providers received over 125 nominations.
In terms of Q3 new releases, Netflix premiered Ozark, opening to significant buzz and becoming a summer
streaming hit. Marvel’s The Defenders was Q3’s comic book premiere, providing a superhero team-up for
excited fans. Castlevania, an adult animated series based on a 1989 video game, also received favorable
reviews after its July release. Finally, the highly anticipated Season 3 of crime drama Narcos received critical
acclaim as well as global attention.
Amazon Video released period drama The Last Tycoon in July after the pilot aired in 2016. In September
however, Amazon cancelled the show reportedly due to the high production cost. The Tick was released in
August receiving favorable reviews—the remainder of the season is set to air in February 2018.
Star Trek: Discovery premiered on CBS All Access—the first series developed specifically for the service. The
series generated record subscriptions for All Access, driving its biggest month of signups.
Quarterly Events
For each of the ten markets, selected digital original series are ranked by their average
Demand Expressions® from July through September, 2017. A time series plot illustrating
interesting demand trends over the last three months accompanies an analysis of these
trends in each market.
New Netflix crime drama series Ozark drove the highest demand among US shows during Q3 at an average
of 15.6MM Demand Expressions, sustaining within the top 2 for most of Q3. Animated series based on the
80’s action adventure videogame of the same name, Castlevania, pulled in an average of 9.9MM Demand
Expressions for the quarter, securing it’s spot at #5. New Netflix comedy series, Friends From College, spiked
in the days post release though demand failed to uphold and the title ranked at #25 for the quarter.
Megahit Stranger Things, reached its one year anniversary in July and still generated enough demand to land at
#3 on the Q3 chart. On July 11th, the Netflix sci-fi series peaked at 45MM demand, driven by the announcement
of Season 2’s release date. A second peak occurred on July 22nd, aligning with the trailer release at Comic-Con.
Hulu’s breakout hit The Handmaid’s Tale moved up one spot to #2 in the US, for Q3 vs. Q2. Demand for the
dystopian drama decreased through the first half of September, until the day following the 69th Primetime
Emmy Awards. Demand for the show doubled the week post the Emmy’s vs. the week prior.
Appearing within the Top 100 titles in the US for Q3 was Harmonquest aligning with Season 2’s premiere on
September 15th. The part adult-animation part live-action show was previously released on the soon-to-be
defunct streaming service Seeso and is now available on VRV, the a la carte media service from Ellation, the
parent company of Crunchyroll.
25 M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
The top 25 most in-demand Digital Original Series in the United States:
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
Argentina’s Q3 top 5 ranking was dominated by Netflix titles, although no newly released digital originals were
included. Instead, the top title by over a third of Demand Expressions was Stranger Things, one year post its
premiere. Argentina was also the only market that featured sci-fi anthology Black Mirror within its top 5. Season
3 was released in October 2016.
Spanish language series Las Chicas del Cable and Club de Cuervos ranked at #11 and #19 respectively. While
Spanish period drama Las Chicas del Cable—released in April 2017—lost steam over the course of the quarter,
the opposite was true for Club de Cuervos. The Mexican comedy drama’s Season 3 was released September
29th, and anticipation was building in the weeks prior. The highest peak for the show occurred on 9/7, aligning
with a marketing effort involving a former Mexican president playing a fictional version of himself supporting
the governmental candidacy of one of the show’s characters.
Rounding out the top 25 titles at #23 is Viaplay’s Veni Vidi Vici—a Swedish comedy series that premiered in
April 2017. It is the only series to make Argentina’s top 25 from an SVOD outside of Netflix, Hulu or Amazon.
25 M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
10
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
11
The Handmaid’s Tale maintained strong demand expression levels consistently throughout Q3, making it the
country’s #1 digital original for the quarter. Coming out of the season finale’s release in June, the series started
with high demand in July that weaned mid to late August. Following three major Emmy wins, the Hulu series
spiked the day post the award’s show in September.
The six next-most popular series in Australia are all Netflix titles, including newly released series Ozark (released
July 21) and Marvel’s The Defenders (released August 18th). While demand endured for the former driving it
to be the top title from late July through mid-August, the latter didn’t sustain demand beyond the week of
its release. Fellow Netflix series Narcos showed building anticipation ahead of the September 1st release for
Season 3, priming it to be the top digital original for the first half of September.
Amazon Video’s The Grand Tour dropped three spots to #8 this quarter. With the final episode of the series
released in February 2017, the motoring hit’s popularity continued to decline in Q3.
2M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
12
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
13
Among Brazil’s top five ranked shows, Narcos—rounding out the ranking at #5—was the only title with a newly
released season (Season 3, September 1st). All other series had been released months prior. That includes sci-fi
anthology Sense8 which had been released in May and its cancellation announced soon after, the first week
of June. The remnants of fans’ outcry from Netflix’s cancellation plans carried on from Q2 to Q3, sustaining the
title’s top ranking for another quarter. Netflix has since announced a series finale will air In 2018.
Season 4 of adult animated comedy Bojack Horseman was released September 8th, driving the title up to #10
in Brazil after ranking at #24 last quarter. Brazilian dystopian thriller 3% dipped a couple of spots from #11
in Q2 to #13 in Q3 , but it still drove one of the highest peaks in demand for the quarter (11.5MM Demand
Expressions on 7/17). The sharp increase aligns with the announcement of new actors joining the cast of the
local hit. The series is slated to launch globally in 2018.
New to Brazil’s top 25 is Ever After High, the companion series to the Mattel franchise of fashion dolls, ranking
at #19.
7M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
14
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
15
Canada’s most popular title in Q3 was The Handmaid’s Tale, generating an average of 1.52MM Demand
Expressions. The Hulu dystopian drama was closely followed by Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, (1.51MM
Demand Expressions) which was released in June and sustained enough demand to earn the #2 spot in Q3.
Newly released crime drama Ozark peaked a few days after its release on July 21st and was the most in-demand
series through mid-August—third in Canada overall.
Anticipation for Narcos’ Season 3 September 1st release was building since July. The most notable peaks
occurred on 7/14 and 8/3 aligning with first the release of the premiere date plus a teaser trailer, and then the
full trailer respectively.
Canada’s top 100 titles featured two shows released via the soon to be defunct platform Seeso—now available
on VRV: Harmonquest, Season 2 released September 15th and My Brother, My Brother and Me, released in
February.
2.5 M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
16
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
17
Narcos had by far the highest demand in Germany in Q3—35% higher than the second top series Stranger
Things. Fellow Netflix hit, House of Cards, ranked highest in Germany among all markets reviewed in this report,
nabbing the #3 top spot. The political thriller managed to sustain demand even though the most recent release
wasn’t since Season 5 on May 30th.
Making a strong debut into the top 25 in Germany was Star Trek: Discovery, accessible via the CBS All Access
platform beginning September 24th. The prequel to the original Star Trek drove the highest peak at 19.7MM
Demand Expressions two days post release, only to surpass that number three days later reaching 20.1MM
Demand Expressions. Based on this glimpse of demand, the series, which will be released weekly, is set to be
one of the most in-demand in Germany for Q4.
The Good Fight, the sequel to CBS hit The Good Wife and also available via CBS All Access, was previously #28
in Q2 but dropped to #49 in Q3. The dip in demand was likely since the finale was released in April and fans are
already caught up on the series. Continued heightened interest in the Star Trek: Discovery series may spark
renewed interest in The Good Fight along with demand of other titles available in the CBS All Access catalogue
for the upcoming quarter. Finally, with just over half a million Demand Expressions, Amazon’s German original
series You are Wanted missed out on being featured in the top 25 in Q3.
10 M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
18
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
19
Season 3’s September 1st release of highly anticipated crime drama series, Narcos, drove it to be the most in-
demand title in France for Q3. In the week post release, on average it generated 66% more demand than the
average of the remaining top 4 shows. Orange is the New Black, still maintaining its popularity after its June
release of the show’s 4th season, began to decline for the second half of the quarter—a 19% dip from the first
half of Q3. Similarly Sense8, dipped at nearly the same rate (20%) over the same time period.
In contrast, Stranger Things and 13 Reasons Why show no signs of letting up demand in France. The latter’s
demand has remained relatively flat even though the drama mystery was released in Q1. The former’s demand
has increased by 24% in the second half of the quarter, assisted by fan anticipation and marketing drumming
up the October release of season 2.
Crackle series Snatch jumped from the #41 spot in Q2 to #26. The British/American film turned show released
in March more than doubled it’s demand quarter over quarter.
6M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
20
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
21
In the United Kingdom for Q3, Netflix newcomer Ozark generated the highest demand. In the week post its
release, the crime drama drove 68% more demand than runner-up title The Handmaid’s Tale, dominating the
#1 spot through mid-August.
Narcos, was the top title for the first half of September after the third season was released at the beginning of
the month. The peak of anticipation was on 8/3 aligning with the release of the full trailer. At 49.4MM Demand
Expressions, demand on that day reached over half of the demand of the post release peak (83.8MM Demand
Expressions on 9/3) illustrating impactful marketing efforts.
The Grand Tour ranked #5 in the UK in Q3, dropping from the #2 spot in Q2. The dip is expected as Season 1’s
finale, the show’s most recent episode, was released back in February. Popularity continued to decrease over
the course of the quarter—demand weaned by 25% in the second half vs. the first half of Q3.
Community, accessible via Yahoo! Screen, was the #28th most in-demand digital original even though the
show hasn’t had new episodes since June 2015, for the show’s sixth and final season. The series has had time
to build a fan base, since the first five seasons aired on NBC.
6M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
22
The top 25 most in-demand Digital Original Series in the United Kingdom:
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
23
Overall, crime drama Narcos drove the second highest demand in Sweden for Q3. Anticipation for the title,
released September 1st, were seen via peaks in July and August. The highest point of demand in August was
on 8/3 where demand for the new Season reached 81% of the post release peak.
Brand new Netflix series based on the 80’s video game Castlevania peaked quickly 5 days post release. Within
30 days, demand plummeted by 55% illustrating a rapid dip in popularity. Decreasing at a significantly slower
rate was fellow Netflix title Gilmore Girls, which was most recently released in November 2016. Comparatively,
the cult classic has only decreased 18% from the first half of Q3 vs. the second half, remaining above Castlevania
for most of September.
Amazon Video’s The Grand Tour, #4 overall, declined by 31% in the second half of Q3 vs. the first. The last
episode aired February 2017, so demand is weaning as more viewers are catching up.
In contrast to the dips in demand, The Last Kingdom increased by 28% even though the last episode was
released in May 2017. The increased interest in September aligns with articles surrounding rumours of an
upcoming third season in 2018. Another series that holds strong is ViaPlay’s Swedish Dicks: Released a year
ago in September 2016, the comedy ranked #21 for Q3.
0.7 M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
24
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
25
Among all markets included in this report, GLOW ranked highest in Singapore at #5. The Netflix comedy series,
released June 23rd, decreased in demand 39% from the first half of the Q3 vs. the second half. Similarly, Amazon
Video’s The Grand Tour decreased by 19% over the same time period, since the last episode aired in February.
New series Marvel’s The Defenders was released August 16th and drove an immediate peak in interest—even
slightly higher than Narcos’ post release peak (+8%). Demand weaned quicker for the comic book title, dropping
66% after the first week. By comparison, Narcos dipped 40%.
Another comic book turned TV series Marvel’s Iron Fist remained stable in Q3. The series was released all at
once on Netflix in March 2017 and was renewed for a second series in July. A combination of anticipation for
Defenders plus the renewal announcement in July could have worked to maintain popularity for the title half
a year after its release.
2M
0
July 2017 August September
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
26
Demand Expressions®: the total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country, on any platform.
27
Methodology
File Sharing /
P2P Platforms
28
Parrot Analytics captures an unprecedented spectrum of actual fan and audience behavior
including video streaming consumption, social media, blogging platforms, file-sharing and peer-to-
peer consumption spanning 249 countries. This enables media companies, for the very first time,
to understand audience demand for content across all content distribution platforms in all markets
around the world.
Parrot Analytics’ leadership includes a group of media industry executives, creatives and scientists
who believe in the magic of content and the impact it has on people’s lives. The company is on a
mission to connect content creators and consumers by enabling data-driven decisions across the
industry.
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