Netflix and Amazon led the pack for orders of original streaming titles in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for over half (53%) of all commissions globally, according to new findings from Ampere Analysis.
The resurgence, which marks the highest number of new titles for Netflix since the third quarter of 2021 and a new quarterly record for Amazon, comes as commissions from its cost-conscious rival streamers backed by legacy studios have dropped.
The growth was spurred by increased investment in international territories, with Netflix and Amazon ordering the majority of their titles outside of the U.S.
“The market saturation in North America, the growing cost of production, and the lingering impact of the Hollywood strikes have pushed Netflix and Amazon to increase investment in international productions to stimulate subscriber growth,” Ampere senior researcher Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza said in a statement. “While several studio-backed SVODs have made cutbacks internationally, these two streaming giants are doubling down on their localized global strategy.”
Ampere predicts that Netflix and Amazon’s spend outside of the U.S., which has increased steadily over the past few years, will continue to rise as streamers look to combat stagnating subscriber growth domestically by looking to expand internationally.
“For Netflix, this means catering to a broad subscriber base while leaning on markets whose productions offer the greatest potential for crossover appeal,” Bustinza added. “Meanwhile, Amazon’s approach remains more heavily targeted towards key markets such as India, while it leverages its global position to expand further into the theatrical market to generate downstream revenues from its platforms.”
During the quarter, Netflix’s Western European commissions almost achieved parity with North American titles for the first time, while Asia Pacific titles saw a notable uptick.
West European commissions were led by Spain, the U.K. and Germany, with documentaries accounting for 30% of regional orders, compared t0 23% in the year ago period. The U.K. accounted for just 43% of the region’s documentaries, compared to 78% last year during the same period.
In the APAC region, Thailand had the biggest individual increase with nine titles ordered during the first quarter of 2024. Crime and thriller content was a focus in India, which is predicted to become Netflix’s largest subscriber hub in the region as it seeks to compete more closely with Amazon in the country, the firm said.
Netflix, which is increasingly reliant on pay-one agreements with theatrical studios for its supply of new, exclusive US films, has decreased its domestic commissioning of original movies and upped its international movie orders in territories like the Nordics, Asia Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
As for Amazon, the majority of its APAC commissions during the first quarter of 2024 were dominated by Indian productions, with a record slate of 37 titles – more than the previous six quarters combined and a 32% increase compared to Amazon’s Indian slate in the second quarter of 2022. It also announced its largest slate of Indian original movies to date and is actively pursuing pay-one and co-financing deals with local theatrical distributors.
Enabled by its takeover of MGM, Amazon upped its global orders of original movies in the past two years, commissioning more films than Netflix for the first time in the second quarter of 2023. Germany, where Amazon leads Netflix in local subscribers, was the biggest winner in Western European commissions, growing to 13 content orders in the first quarter, nearly double a previous high in the first quarter of 2021.
