Streaming services have led the boom. In 2021,
streaming subscriptions rose to 1.3 billion
globally, a 14% increase from the year before. In
the United States, subscriptions grew at a similar
pace to 353.2 million. According to Nielsen,
the Pixar film “Luca” on Disney+ was the most
watched movie of 2021, with more than 10.5
billion minutes streamed.
The digital surge came at the same time the
pandemic battered the theatrical business. While
worldwide box office last year nearly doubled
that of 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the
$21.3 billion theatrical market, amid sporadic
theater closures and widespread delays, was
roughly half of what it had been before the
arrival of COVID-19.
In 2019, box office accounted for $42.3 billion in
sales. With steady business returning to movie
theaters in much of the world this year, analysts
forecast that the theatrical recovery could reach
around 80% of what it typically has. Meanwhile,
physical sales (most notably DVDs and Blu-rays)
have been gradually declining for years. Last
year, physical media fell to $6.5 billion, or about
half what it was in 2018 and a fraction of their
record highs.
But however the media pie is divided, the
combined entertainment market in 2021
was practically the same as it was before the
pandemic, totaling $99.7 billion. That was
actually higher than the $98.1 billion of 2019.
Consumer spending — $328.2 billion last year,
including cable subscriptions — also matched
2019’s numbers.
Still, the MPA data captured many of the shifts
accelerated by the pandemic. In both 2020