Unpacking the $100 Million Streaming Christmas Movie Market | Charts
The definition of a “Christmas movie” has evolved over the years. While traditionally associated with feel-good family stories centered on a child’s magical experience of Christmas, many modern films set during the holiday season explore darker, edgier or even spicier themes. This ongoing evolution fuels never-ending debates over whether titles like “Die Hard” or “Eyes Wide Shut” should actually be considered Christmas movies.
According to Parrot Analytics Audience Solutions, Christmas movies that are available on the major SVOD platforms in the U.S. are spread across different demographic groups, but most of them have an older and male-skewed audience. This group consists mostly of dramas and action films set during Christmas. Examples include “Die Hard,” “Eyes Wide Shut” and more traditional holiday fare like “The Polar Express,” “Home Alone,” “The Holdovers” and the classic comedy “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
There’s another subgroup of Christmas movies that stand out, Christmas-themed romantic comedies, which tend to have an overwhelmingly young and female audience. Some of the most in-demand romcoms on streaming platforms this holiday season include beloved classics such as “Love Actually,” “The Holiday” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” These films have become seasonal staples for romcom fans, with demand spiking dramatically during the holidays after remaining dormant for most of the year.
To meet this seasonal surge in demand, streaming platforms not only license older films but also invest in original productions. Notable examples include Netflix hits like “A Family Affair” and “Love Hard,” as well as Prime Video’s “Your Christmas or Mine?” (which now has a sequel) and “Something From Tiffany’s.”
Unsurprisingly, Netflix and Prime Video lean heavily on romantic comedies during this time of year. Nearly 60% of Amazon Prime Video’s demand for Christmas movies during the last 30 days came from romcoms, while Netflix sees roughly half of its Christmas movie demand driven by the genre. On the other hand, Disney+, which boasts the highest overall demand share for Christmas movies, has the smallest proportion coming from romcoms—just 3.8%. This is largely due to the family-friendly, children-focused catalog Disney+ has.
Christmas movies are a vital tool for streaming platforms to engage subscribers during the holiday season. According to Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics, Christmas movies generated nearly $100 million in revenue for the seven major SVODs in the UCAN region during Q4 2023. This revenue came from both attracting new subscribers and retaining existing ones during the festive period. Notably, about one-third of this total was driven by Christmas-themed romantic comedies.
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