We’ve heard it a million times before — “Streaming is killing the theatrical experience!” We’ve heard from filmmakers and pundits that theaters in the US are dying off because people would rather stay home and watch a movie on Netflix. But according to yet another survey, that idea is being debunked.
According to a new survey from ComScore (via Deadline), not only does the “streaming killing theaters” claim not add up, but it would appear that both streaming and theaters are thriving because not everyone streams movies and the people who are obsessed with films will just watch them wherever they can.
The big stat to come from the survey is that under 35% of those who watch films in the theaters would consider themselves “frequent streamers.” That means there’s still a really healthy group of people, the vast majority, in fact, that would rather watch the film on the big-screen than go home to see it.
But that’s not all.
Of all the demographics that should be on board with streaming everything and skipping theaters entirely, the coveted 18-24 age group seems to be folks that spend the most money at the multiplex, representing 25% of all film ticket purchases. This, once again, shows that streaming and theatrical release shouldn’t be positioned against each other, at all, as both can thrive.
“Many observers have floated the idea that the 18-24 crowd isn’t flocking to the movies and running to streaming. That theory is challenged here by PostTrak’s data, which shows over the last seven years that the age group continues to be the dominant demographic of moviegoers,” says Comscore’s Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
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He added, “People who stream movies also really love to go to the movies. Streaming and movie-going aren’t adversarial, they are in fact additive and complementary.”
As for the question of diversity among movie-goers, it would appear that PostTrak backs up the recent evidence that films with casts made up of mostly non-white actors can appeal to a large demographic of people who pay to see films in theaters. The survey has concluded that the racial breakdown of the movie-going public includes Caucasians at 54%, Hispanics 19 %, African Americans 16%, Asians 7% and other 5%.
Perhaps the most troubling stat that comes out of this survey is the fact that of all the people who attend R-rated films, children under 7 represent 8% of everyone. Not to be the moral police or anything, but I have to say, as someone who enjoys seeing R-rated films in theaters, please don’t bring your little kid to these movies. Not only is it probably not the best parental decision in the world, but also, there’s no reason why I should have counted 3 kids between 5 and 10 years old at my recent screening of “Midsommar.” Just don’t do it. /rant
Overall, it’s clear that the fighting over streaming versus theatrical is propagated based on information that just doesn’t check out. Sure, you can point to the fact that blockbusters are dominating the theatrical experience and mid-budget films are getting pushed out, but streaming probably isn’t to blame.