Global online video revenue soared by 30% as Box Office dipped 71.5% in 2020

For the first time in more than 20 years, global box office revenue sank below $13 billion in 2020.

According to the research data analyzed and published by Finaria, the global box office industry revenue dropped by $31 billion in 2020. The market’s revenue sank below $13 billion for the first time in two decades. Compared to the $42.5 billion generated in 2019, there was a 71.5% year-over-year (YoY) decline.

Based on a Comscore report, movie ticket sales in North America hit a 40-year low in 2020. Following an 80% YoY drop, the figure totaled $2.28 billion, down from $11.4 billion in 2019.

China Becomes World’s Top Box Office Market with $2.7 Billion in Ticket Sales

2019 set a record for the second largest haul in the history of the North American box office industry.

In January 2020, ticket sales in North America surged by 10% YoY to $900 million and in February 2020, by 4% to $651 million. However, things slowed down in March 2020 with sales dropping by 73% YoY to $258 million.

China for the first time overtook the US as the world’s top box office market. Ticket sales in the country were, however, 70% below the 2019 total of $9 billion. In another first, a Chinese movie, The Eight Hundred, was the highest earning movie globally. It raked in close to $440 million in 2020.

Alongside the astronomical drop in box office revenue was a huge boom in streaming. A study by Omdia states that there was a 30% increase in global online transactional and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) revenue, reaching $34 billion. Disney shifted major releases like Soul and Hamilton to Disney+, its streaming service. It announced that in 2021, it would place 80% of films on Disney+ first.