The Oscars awards ceremony, the movie industry’s most eagerly awaited event of the year, took place on Sunday – and it wasn’t just Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, and the team behind “Oppenheimer” who triumphed.
Streaming platforms also benefited from the race for this year’s golden gongs. According to a study by data.ai, nominations in the “best picture” category have a significant impact on downloads for those platforms that carry these movies in their catalogues.
The analysis shows that most platforms saw 10-15% more downloads in the US in the week following the release of one of the nominated movies on their platform.
For example, “Maestro”, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper, helped boost Netflix download growth by 19% on-week, while Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” increased Max downloads by 11%.
Still, it’s important to note that download estimates for Apple TV, which carries Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, only include downloads via Google Play, and not also on iOS, as with other apps.
Regardless of whether a movie goes home with an award, its nomination alone may help the streaming platforms that carry them appeal to a wider audience.
One surprising result was the 42% drop in Peacock downloads after “The Holdovers” was added to the platform, data.ai points out. This effect is due to seasonal trends, with downloads particularly high during the previous week around Christmastime.
This film, starring Paul Giamatti, landed on Peacock on Dec 29, 2023. As data.ai notes, “Peacock’s downloads the week following ‘The Holdovers’ release were still higher than the week ‘Oppenheimer’ was added to the service”.
This year, the movies nominated for best picture are well distributed across the various platforms. Among them, “Barbie” is available on Max, “Oppenheimer” can be seen on Peacock, while “Poor Creatures” has just arrived on Hulu.
“American Fiction” is available in the US on MGM Plus, pending a release date on Amazon Prime Video. Released later in cinemas, “The Zone of Interest” is coming soon to Max.