The data firm Diesel Labs found which new titles drove the most engagement for major streamers last year.
Movies that were released simultaneously to streaming and in theaters drove high online engagement.
Genre titles like Amazon's "Wheel of Time" and Netflix's "Shadow and Bone" were also hits.
Media companies took major steps in 2021 to boost their streaming businesses, making huge reorganizations and experimenting with distribution strategies.
The latter meant that some movies that premiered in theaters were released on streaming simultaneously. Warner Bros. released all of its movies in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time last year. Other studios, from Universal to Disney, also experimented with select titles to boost their streaming components amid the pandemic.
Many of these movies drove high engagement for their respective streaming platforms, according to the analytics company Diesel Labs. The company released its 2021 streaming report this week, including which titles drove the most online buzz for the eight major streaming platforms.
They include:
Amazon Prime Video
Apple TV+
Disney+
WarnerMedia's HBO Max
Hulu
Netflix
ViacomCBS' Paramount+
NBCUniversal's Peacock
Diesel Labs measures audience engagement based on data from social and video platforms Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.
The company only counted new titles that premiered in 2021. That means popular titles like Apple's "Ted Lasso," which aired its second season last year, didn't make the cut.
It did count movies that streamed simultaneously while playing in theaters, which drove engagement for Max, Peacock, and Paramount+. Disney tried this strategy, too, but its engagement was dominated by new Marvel Cinematic Universe shows.
Warner Bros.' movie strategy certainly helped drive subscribers as well as engagement last year. Max and HBO ended 2021 with a combined 73.8 million subscribers. WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar told Insider recently that he'd "make the same decision again," even though the plan angered many in Hollywood after it was announced in late 2020. But in 2022, Warner Bros. plans to release movies with exclusive, but shortened, theatrical windows.
Genre titles also drove engagement overall.
The fantasy series "The Wheel of Time" was Amazon's top new series last year, according to Diesel Labs. The fantasy show "Shadow and Bone" and the animated "League of Legends" series "Arcane" were hits for Netflix. The big-budget sci-fi series "Foundation" was one of Apple's top shows. And superhero content drove engagement for HBO Max as well as Disney+.
Below are the five exclusive or original new titles that drove the most engagement for eight major streaming services last year:
Amazon Prime VideoPerrin (Marcus Rutherford) and Egwene (Madeleine Madden).
Jan Thijs / Amazon Studios
"The Wheel of Time" — original series
"Coming 2 America" — original movie
"Cinderella" — original movie
"Invincible" — original series
"The Tomorrow War" — original movie
"The Wheel of Time," based on the fantasy novels by Robert Jordan, was the biggest premiere for a new series last year in the US, according to the data firm Parrot Analytics, which measures audience demand. In its first 30 days of release, it was more in-demand than other new hit shows like Netflix's "Arcane" and Disney+'s "Book of Boba Fett." It bodes well for Amazon's next major fantasy series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power."
Amazon has also been aggressive in acquiring movies with broad appeal, from Eddie Murphy's "Coming 2 America" and the Chris Pratt-starring sci-fi action movie "The Tomorrow War."
"Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry" — original documentary movie
"Foundation" — original series
"The Me You Can't See" — original series
Since Diesel Labs' data only accounted for new titles that debuted in 2021, Apple's most popular series, "Ted Lasso," didn't make the cut. Instead, its Tom Holland-starring movie "Cherry" topped the list.
"Foundation," the big-budget sci-fi series based on the novel by Isaac Asimov, also made the list for Apple. It's been renewed for a second season.
"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" — original series
"What If...?" — original series
"Hawkeye" — original series
The titles that drove the most engagement for Disney+ last year were, unsurprisingly, all Marvel shows, even as Disney, like other studios, released some of its movies simultaneously to the service with theaters or exclusively on the service (like Pixar's "Luca").
HBO Max's engagement last year was largely dominated by Warner Bros. movies that debuted simultaneously on the service and in theaters. But the No. 1 title was actually a Max original movie: "Zack Snyder's Justice League," the anticipated director's cut of 2017's "Justice League."
This year, Warner Bros. is movie away from its simultaneous release strategy, but has announced that its movies would have a shortened theatrical window of at least 45 days before the movies move to Max. Before the pandemic, the typical theatrical window was between 75 days and 90 days.
Netflix's biggest series of all time, "Squid Game," drove the most engagement for the service last year.
More surprisingly, the movie "Malcolm and Marie" made Netflix's top five most engaged-with titles, rather than hits like "Don't Look Up" or "Red Notice." Perhaps it speaks to the popularity of Zendaya, who starred in the movie.
The mix of reality and kids content for Paramount+ is what sets it apart from the other services when it comes to online engagement.
Paramount+'s engagement was driven by family movies that debuted simultaneously in theaters, such as "Paw Patrol" and "Clifford." Its "iCarly" revival of the Nickelodeon series also made the list, further showing that kids and family titles are driving engagement for the service.
Reality TV is also working for the service with the likes of "Ru Paul's Drag Race All Stars" and "The Challenge: All Stars."
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