Netflix and Amazon are increasing investment in international productions to stimulate subscriber growth at the same time that studio-backed SVODs have made cutbacks internationally. This helped the two streamers return to dominance in Original commissioning in Q1 2024, having been challenged in recent years by the studio SVODs.
These insights are courtesy of a new report by Ampere Analysis, which found that in Q1 2024 Netflix commissioned its highest number of new titles since Q3 2021. Meanwhile, Amazon set a record for its quarterly commissions in Q1/24.
“Because this resurgence in Original orders coincided with falling commissions from cost-conscious rival streamers, the two streaming giants accounted for 53% of all SVOD commissions globally in Q1,” the analyst firm reveals.
In Q1/24, Netflix and Amazon ordered the majority of their titles from outside the USA. Ampere Analysis predicts this non-USA spend will continue to rise as the players attempt to combat domestic subscriber stagnation by chasing expansion internationally. For Netflix, Western European commissions almost achieved parity with North American titles for the first time in the quarter, led by spend in the UK, Spain and Germany.
The report found that cost-effective unscripted content featured heavily in Netflix’s Western European commissions. Documentaries accounted for 30% of regional orders, up from 23% in Q1 last year.
Netflix is increasingly reliant on pay-one agreements with theatrical studios for its supply of new, exclusive U.S. films, and has decreased its domestic commissioning of original movies, Ampere reports. “By contrast, it has upped its international movie orders in territories like the Nordics, Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa.”
For Amazon, the big story is India, with a record 37 titles commissioned from Indian producers in Q1/24. That is more than the previous six quarters combined and an increase on Amazon’s previous major Indian slate, in Q2 2022, of 32%.
“Global streamers, including Amazon, have previously struggled to compete with local players that offer strong regional content. However, this Indian total signals Amazon’s intention to take on the incumbent platforms, cementing India as the cornerstone of its international strategy,” the research company states.
Amazon 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 studio MGM, Amazon has upped its global orders of original movies in the past two years, commissioning more films than Netflix for the first time in Q2 2023,” the report reveals.
