Third-party streaming rating company Samba TV reported on Monday that 3.6 million families watched at least five minutes of Warner Bros / Legendary programs Godzilla vs. Kong on HBO Max for the first five days of the photo on the website from March 31 to April 4.
Although HBO Max has not provided any official number of views on Godzilla vs. Kong, previous Samba data shows that the fourth-grade audience was larger than previous HBO Max films in the first four days: the launch of the Christmas weekend in Wonder Woman 1984 with 2.2 million U.S. households (for at least five minutes) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League which reached 1.8 million HBO Max homes in the U.S. (for at least five minutes).
Note that Samba TV only surveys viewers on terrestrial smart TVs. However, your data on Godzilla vs. Kong supports the statement made on Sunday by WarnerMedia’s Direct-to-Consumer EVP and general manager Andy Forssell that the film “has had a larger audience than any other film or program on HBO Max since its release.”
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‘Godzilla vs. Kong ‘pushes domestic box office out of depression pandemic with $ 48.5 million opening in 5 days
What Warner Bros. reported in a primitive way about Godzilla vs. Kong was that it raised US $ 48.1 million at the domestic box office (Comscore update) in the first five days; an undeniable success, it announces the return of the trip to the cinema after the closing of the exhibition and the damage of the pandemic of more than a year.
Forssell also added Sunday about Godzilla vs. Kong that “the audience at HBO Max spoke very clearly and out loud: they love this movie and are watching it more than once”.
There is no doubt that Warner Bros did an excellent job, bringing audiences from the United States back to the movies with Godzilla vs. Kong at a time when the pandemic was casting a shadow over cinema. It is also a major box office achievement for Warners, considering that only 55% of the US-Canada exhibition market is in operation. The combination of an event title and a holiday weekend, in which 76% of children were out of school on Friday, culminated in Godzilla vs. Kong flying above the five-day projections before the industry weekend, which were in the $ 20 million to $ 30 million range.
The domestic success of BO’s Godzilla vs. Kong has many arguments: first, it clearly points out that boys (64% boys, 52% under 25 years old) did not turn their backs to go to the cinema.
Next, cinema is by far more powerful than the number of HBO Max subscribers / viewers out there. If the audience for the service was so vibrant, why didn’t WarnerMedia disclose any numbers? Although it is a slightly similar comparison to apples with oranges, the HBO linear and HBO Go streaming apps reached 19.6 million viewers towards the end of the series The Game of Thrones in May 2019 (13.6 million of this amount being from the 21:00 ET linear transmission).
At the same time, many rival box office sources claim that even more money could have been made here by Godzilla vs. Kong if it weren’t on HBO Max. Interestingly, I have HBO Max and a Regal on the same street that is playing Godzilla vs. Kong. But there was no need to spend $ 80 for a family of four to go see the movie, because I can watch it on HBO Max essentially for free. Now, if I didn’t have HBO Max, or if that option of watching the movie at home wasn’t available, then I’d definitely be in the cinema watching Godzilla vs. Kong. HBO costs $ 15 a month for me to watch the entire streaming catalog, and just my simple example here is evidence of how WarnerMedia lost $ 80 in the BO (or $ 40 if you want to be technical about the amount rental money that the studio could earn) It can also be argued that those who watched Godzilla vs. Kong at home, for starters, they were not frequent spectators. Still, why give a premium event title? Better to feed anticipation for Godzilla vs. Kong and make everyone at home wait for it.
In all fairness, Warners will say that its HBO day and date display list was only for this year due to the pandemic, and that it has already struck a deal with Regal, respecting an exclusive 45-day cinema window for 2022, etc. . ., etc.
But it’s important to note the cannibalization that a streaming-theatrical-day-and-date launch can bring to BO, as pro-streaming analysts on Wall Street will only use the success of last weekend’s Godzilla vs. Kong as evidence that this new model works.
Hear that HBO Max subscribers have watched Godzilla vs. Kong twice it can only make an exhibitor shrink: after struggling to stay alive since mid-March last year, these are lost tickets that a movie owner will never see. My sources predict that, as more event titles, which respect the cinema window, flood the calendar, it will be more difficult for these films of the day and date of streaming to reserve screens. We are still experiencing the pandemic anomaly with the seating capacity (NYC has not yet exceeded 25%) and 45% of US-Canada cinemas remain closed.
Samba TV reported today that 225,000 families in the UK watched Godzilla vs. Kong and that the fourth series directed by Adam Wingard reached its biggest audience day in the United States and the United Kingdom on March 31.
Of those watching Godzilla vs. Kong in the United States, its overindexed audience for those earning <$ 50,000, as well as younger viewers (under 45) and black (24%) and Hispanic viewers (26%). Of the 25 main markets, Sacramento was the one with an excessive index (+ 40%), followed by Chicago (+ 23%). By comparison, WW1984 overindexed in families earning more than $ 100,000, as well as families with people aged 25 to 54, Hispanic families (+ 17%) and Asian families (+ 14%). At the end of 2020, WW1984 reached 3.03 million households by Samba TV.