SHOWBIZ SANDBOX CHEAT SHEET
Annual box office, streamer totals etc
BARB UK TOP SHOWS
https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/most-viewed-programmes/
Nielsen Top 10 Charts Streaming
https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/
PUBLISHER WEEKLY BESTSELLER LIST
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/nielsen/index.html
CEO PAY
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-ceo-pay-2024-chart-1236209962/
MOVIES MOVIES
BOX OFFICE NORTH AMERICA
2016 – $11.3b
2017 – $11.0b
2018 – $11.9b ($54m short of $12b
2019 – $11.2b
FOUR YEAR AVERAGE FROM 2016-2019 is…
$11.35b
2024 has 25% FEWER wide releases so box office 25% less than the average is…
$8.47b OUR ESTIMATE
$8.2b is GOWER ANALYTICS ESTIMATE
WIDE RELEASES NORTH AMERICA
define wide releases (1000+ screens at some point during release, I believe)
1995- 2009 – major studios released 100-120 wide releases every year (others did mid-20s then leaped to 30-50)
Major/other = Total
2014 – 88/37 = 125
2015 – 93/33 = 126
2016 – 95/46 = 141
2017 – 81/50 = 131
2018 – 86/58 = 144
2019 – 87/43 = 130
2020 – 34/23 = 57
2021 – 60/35 = 95
2022 – 59/51 = 110
2023 – 67/83 = 150
2024– 140
2025– 153
2016-2019 average wide releases – 87/49 = 136
BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE
2014 – $36.4 billion
2015 – $39.1b
2016 – $39.3b
2017 – $40.9b
2018 – $41.8b
2019 – $42.3b
PANDEMIC
2020 – $11.8b
2021 – $21.4b
2022 – $25.9b
2023 – $33.9b
2024 – $30.0b
2025 – $33.6b
2016-2019 ww box office average was: $41.1b
2014-2019 average wwb was: $39.96b call it $40 billion
BOX OFFICE CHINA
2024–US$5.8 billion
2025–US$7.47 billion (local films were 80% of total grosses)
BOX OFFICE INDIA
2023–US$1.35 billion
2024–
2025–US$1.48 billion
Highest grossing film of 2025 in Indian market: Dhurandhar (Hindi) at $105m
Highest grossing Hollywood film of 2025 in Indian market: Avatar: Fire and Ash at $26.48m (#8)
Admissions down to 832m
Ticket prices up 20% to US$1.78
NOTE: Per one article, there is a standard four week window between theatrical debut and a movie hitting streaming. So a 28 day window. Given the market, I assume streaming means a cheap rental, not an expensive sell-through. But I'm just guessing.
Per Economic Times website.
https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/mana-shankara-vara-prasad-garu-ott-release-officially-announced-chiranjeevis-hit-to-stream-in-multiple-laguages-check-expected-date-and-time/amp_articleshow/127883266.cms
BOX OFFICE IMAX -- WORLDWIDE
2019–$1.1 billion
2025–$1.28 billion
NORTH AMERICA ADMISSIONS, AVERAGE TICKET PRICE, TOTAL BOX OFFICE
Admisisons, average ticket price, total box office (per Then Cinema Foundation)
$11.25 average ticket price North America.
In 1971–$1.65 (adjusted for inflation: $13.10 as of 2025)
In 2019–$9.16 (adjusted for inflation: $11.52 as of 2025)
In 2025: $11.31 (per Box Office Mojo)
https://www.the-numbers.com/market/
NORTH AMERICAN WIDE RELEASES
*Wide release defined as any film that hits 2000 screens at any point during its run
2010 – 121 movies received a wide release ($10.6b)
2011 – 126 wide releases ($10.2b)
2012 – 124 ($10.8b)
2013 – 119 ($10.9b)
2014 – 112 ($10.4b)
2015 – 119 ($11.2b)
2016 – 142 ($11.4b)
2017 – 126 ($11.2b)
2018 – 117 ($11.9b)
2019 – 120 ($11.4b)
2020 – 34 ($ 2.3b
2021 – 72 ($ 4.6b)
2022 – 77 ($ 7.5b)
2023 – 101 ($ 9.0b)
2024 – 94 ($ 8.7b)
2025 – 112 ($ 8.9b)
NOTE: Fewer wide releases and MUCH smaller windows for many of them.)
SCREENS (per The Cinema Foundation)
Worldwide: 212,000 (as of 2022)
China–80,000 screens in China (as of 2025), twice the total of US/Canada. (China population is 1.4b while North America is 380m, so pop is more than 3 times bigger with a middle class equal to the entire pop of North America).
North America: 42,063 (as of 2022) (39,000 US and 3000 in Canada)
PLF–14% of total box office in North America (as of 2022)
Movie theater chains employ 155,000 in North America (as of 2022)
Per Cinema United in Dce 2025: 135 million people in North America "participated" in loyalty programs (including free ones, presumably) like AMC's A-List and Cinemark's Movie Club. Since 200m people in North America between 12 and 74 saw at least one movie in a theater in 2025, that means MOST people participated in a loyalty program?
WINDOWS FOR THEATRICAL RELEASES FROM MAJOR STUDIOS
1. Theatrical (17-60 days, depending on studio and film)
2. PEST (Premium Electronic Sell-Through for $25-30) typically 2-4 weeks simultaneous w PVOD
PVOD (Premium Video On Demand) Rent for $15-20) typically 2-4 weeks, simultaneous w PEST
3. "Regular" sales and rentals – $3-6 to rent; $15-20 to buy
4. Streaming and pay TV
5. Ad-supported TV
WINDOWS BY STUDIO IN 2025
DISNEY -- 14 wide releases
12 at 60+ days (9 weekends)
1 at 52 days (8 weekends)
1 at 45 days (7 weekends)
UNIVERSAL–15 wide releases
1 at 38 days (6 weekends)
2 at 31 days (5 weekends)
12 at 17 days (3 weekends)
WARNER BROS–8 wide releases
1 at 52 days (8 weekends) (F1, Apple)
2 at 45 days (7 weekends) (One Battle, Sinners)
1 at 38 days (6 weekends)
2 at 31 days (5 weekends)
2 at 17 days (3 weekends)
SONY PICTURES–10 wide releases
1 at 45 days (7 weekends) (Paddington in Peru)
3 at 38 days (6 weekends)
3 at 31 days (5 weekends)
3 at 24 days (4 weekends)
PARAMOUNT PICTURES–9 wide releases
1 at 60+ days (9 weekends) (Mission Impossible
6 at 31 days (5 weekends)
2 at 24 days (4 weekends)
VIDEO STREAMING – THE BIG SEVEN
Netflix–325m as of Jan 2026
Amazon Prime–200m worldwide as of 2021; now its US ad tier alone reaches 130m subs as of May 2025
Disney+/Hulu–195.7m worldwide as of Nov 2025
Disney+–131.6m ww as of Nov 2025 (North America: 59.3m)
Warner Bros/Discovery–122.3m as of May 2025
Paramount+–79m as of May 2025
Hulu–64.1m worldwide as of Nov 2025
Peacock–44m paying as of Jan 2026
Apple TV+–40m
ViX (owned by Televisa/Univision)–40m
NETFLIX
Netflix has 325m subscribers worldwide as of Jan 2026 (prob 70% international subs)
Netflix won't report on total subscribers quarterly, only when it's in the mood (ie. hits a major milestone).
Netflix spent
Netflix set to spend $20billion on content both original and licensing in 2026.
70m on ad tier as of Nov 2024 (just 23m as of Dec 2023) per netflix, the majority of new customers in countries
with an ad tier choose the ad tier.
One analyst portrays this as a negative. But Spotify makes more money on people at the ad
tier so that might be the same for Netflix. So reaching a new audience and making more money off them than if the
person went for the more expensive ad-free tier.
EMEA 88m
North America 80m
LATAM 46m
APAC 45m
Netflix content spend budget:
2019–$14b
2020–$12b
2021–$17b
2022–?
2023–$17b
2024–$17b
2025–$18b estimated by Netflix
AMAZON PRIME
Amazon Prime has 200m subs as of 2021/175m streamed TV and movies in past year
(2020: spent $11b in movies music tv content, up 40% in 2019. Spent $18.9b in 2023.)
Content spend
2019: $11.0 billion
2023: $18.9 billion
2024: $19.6 billion
2025: $22.4 billion
Now US ad tier alone reaches 130m subs (North America ONLY) as of May 2025
DISNEY+
Disney+ CORE (not India) has 128m as of August 2025
Ad tier: as of Nov 2024, Iger says 60% of all new subs are for ad tier (fairly consistent worldwide, but US esp)
They are raising prices to push people into ad tier because it makes them more money.
TK has 149.6m subs as of Feb 2024 (ad tier in NA is 10m)
WARNER BROS/DISCOVERY
Warner Bros/Discovery has 122.3m subs worldwide as of May 2025.
(HBO Max $10 w ads; $16 ad-free; Discovery+ is $5 w ads and $7 ad-free) including HBO Max, Discovery+.
Paramount+ has 77.9m paid subs worldwide for all channels – ad-free tier, tierw ads (includes Showtime BET etc)
77.5m for Paramount+ alone (as of Feb 2025). As of Nov 2025.
Peacock -- 54m sign-ups for all three tiers: free/$5/$10 and 28m active monthly user; 44m are paid subs (as of Jan 2026);
7m more via paid bundles (w an ARPU of $10 per sub)
44 million subs as of Jan 2026
Hulu -- 55.5m as of August 2025 (including 4.3m live tv subs – lost 100K again)
Apple TV+ – 40m as of Feb 2022
ViX has 40m users as of Oct 2023 (TelevisaUnivision)
NOTE: Traditional pay tv/satellite/OTT bundle has 77m subs in US as of July 2021 (incl youTube TV and Hulu TV)
SMALLER STREAMERS
Pluto AVOD has 80m MAU (monthly active users) as of May 2023
Starz has 37.3m subs worldwide, incl Starz Arabia (26.3m subs are via streaming) as of August 2022
Discovery+ has 24m paying subs worldwide (April 2022) includes Discovery, Food Network etc
ESPN+ has 24.1m subs worldwide (May 2025)
Lionsgate -- 19.7m paying subs worldwide (incl Starz et al) as of Feb 2022
Crunchyroll (anime) – 17m subs as of May 2025
AMC+ has 10.4m subs (includes AMC+, Acorn, Shudder, Sundance, IFC, BBC America, etc) as of Nov 2025
TelevisaUnivision aka ViX– 10m subs as of July 2025
BritBox – 3m subs as of Feb 2023
FoxNation – 2 to 2.5m subs per Lachlan Murdoch (March 2025)
NOTE: Roku has 60m active accounts as of Feb 2022
Revenue in North America/International Per User as of May 2023 per variety report
Netflix $16.18 NA $9.58 Intl
Hulu (ads) $11.73 NA —-------
HBO Max/Discovery $10.82 NA $3.48 Intl
Peacock (ads) $10.38 NA —--------
Disney+ $ 7.14 NA $5.93 Intl
ESPN+ (ads) $ 5.64 NA —---------
Paramount+ $ 5.25 NA $3.80 Intl
Starz $ 5.97 NA $0.86 Intl
AMC+ $ 4.08 NA
NOTE: Across the board companies with cable channels make a higher ARPU per sub than via streaming, so every switch is a loss in revenue
PAY TV PLATFORMS
Charter – 14.1m as of Feb 2024
Comcast – 14.1m as of Feb 2024
YouTube TV – 8m as of Feb 2024
Dish/Sling TV – 7.4m as of May 2025
TV PLATFORMS FOR FEBRUARY 2024
Platforms
Streaming: 37.7 percent of all TV use
Cable: 27.6 percent
Broadcast: 23.3 percent
Other: 11.3 percent
(Due to rounding by Nielsen, percentages don’t total 100.)
Streaming Services
YouTube: 9.3 percent of all TV use
Netflix: 7.8 percent
Hulu: 2.8 percent
Prime Video: 2.8 percent
Disney+: 1.9 percent
Tubi: 1.7 percent
Peacock: 1.4 percent
Max: 1.3 percent
Roku Channel: 1.2 percent
Paramount+: 1.1 percent
Pluto TV: 0.8 percent
All others: 5.6 percent
MUSIC STREAMING MUSIC STREAMING
MUSIC STREAMERS
North America: 105.3m paid subscriptions as of September 2025 (about one in three Americans). But a family plan is a single subscription so this covers significantly more than 100m people in the US. Plus of course, little kids and the very old won't use it. So this is an EXTREMELY mature market at full capacity. And yet the industry sees growth slowing and freaks out. What do you expect?
SPOTIFY – 290m ww premium paid as of Feb 2026
751m active users worldwide as of Feb 2026
44.4m in US as of Feb 2023
Spotify says it paid out $11b to the record industry in 2025. (In 2024 it paid
2024 – $10b paid out (60% of revenue)
2025 – $11b paid out (TK of revenue)
YOUTUBE MUSIC – 125m users worldwide of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music and and Premium Lite
(Premium is ad-free for $13.99 a month in US; YouTube Music is $10.99 a month for music and music videos
ad-free; Premium Lite is $7.99 a month ad free for videos, not including Music and music videos as of march 2025)
Total includes people on free trial plan, but doesn't break any of it out per plan.
APPLE MUSIC - 88m ww/32.6m in US
AMAZON MUSIC – 82.2m ww as of Jan 2023/ 29.3m in US (Amazon Prime has 200m ww; 175m use Video)
SIRIUS XM – 31.3m total subscribers as of Feb 202 6
33.0m -- Nov 2025
31.3m -- Feb 2026
PANDORA MUSIC – 2.4m
MUSIC STREAMING DATA (all per Luminate)
https://luminatedata.com/reports/yearend-music-industry-report-2025
Audio streams on demand
2024: 4.7 trillion global on-demand audio song streams
2025: 5.1 trillion global on-demand audio song streams (U.S. 1.4 t; rest of world 3.7 t)
Actual album sales:
Physical + Digital:
2024: 93.4 m
2025: 95.8 m
Physical (vinyl, CD, cassette) (what no 8-track, no reel to reel?)
2024: 77.2 m (Vinyl was 47.9 m )
2025: 82.2 m
Digital
2024: 16.2 m
2025: 13.6 m
On Demand Audio Stream by Decade (what % of music people are listening to from each decade)
FOR 2025:
1970s and earlier: 2.7%
1980s: 3.3%
1990s: 6.4%
2000s: 11.1%
2010s: 28.5%
2020s: 47.9%
IN-CAR LISTENING
Per Edison Research as of May 2023
In-car listening
AM/FM radio live: 60%
Sirius XM satellite radio – 16%
Smart phone music streaming – 7%
Smart phone podcasts – 4%
Smart phone YouTube music videos – 4%
Total of 91%
MUSIC BUSINESS NUMBERS
Recorded music revenue (streaming, physical sales, digital sales, publishing? etc) – $26b in 2022 (most ever in dollar terms)
1999 – $24.1b (or $39.2b in 2021 dollars)
2000 – $22.6b
2001 – $24.0b
2002 – $22.4b
2003 – $20.8b
2004 – $20.8b
2005 – $20.2b
2006 – $19.6b
2007 – $18.4b
2008 – $17.1b
2009 – $15.9b
2010 – $15.1b
2011 – $15.0b
2012 – $15.0b
2013 – $14.7b
2014 – $14.2b
2015 – $14.7b
2016 – $16.1b
2017 – $17.3b
2018 – $18.9b
2019 – $20.4b
2020 – $21.9b
2021 – $25.9b
2022 - $26.2b
2024 - $29.6b
Streaming music paid subscribers (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc) – 523m worldwide (up from 443m in 2020)
PAID MUSIC SUBSCRIBERS WORLDWIDE (SPOTIFY ET AL)
2024 - 752m
2021 – 523m
2020 – 443m
2019 – 341m
2018 – 251m
2021 ARPPU – $1.96 pr month or $23.52 per year – ($12.3b annual w 523m subs)
MAY 2021: NYT says streaming makes up 83% of recorded music revenue in US
As of April 2021
Carriage fees monthly average per sub
ESPN: $7.64
TNT” $2.20
NFL: $1.79
FOX NEWS: $1.72
USA: $1.65
CBS: $1.59
NBC: $1.40
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Per Digital Entertainment Group, home entertainment in North America total spend hit $37b in 2022.
$37b total
SVOD Netflix, et al – $30.7b
Physical Rental $ 500m
Digital Rental $1.680b
Physical Sale $1.580b
Digital Sale $2.510b (the only one of the four to rise, slightly)
Per Variety OTT Video Revenue (source Digital TV Researc)
2022 – $57.8b
SVOD: $51.6b
AVOD: $16.5b
Rental: $ 2.9b
D Own: $ 2.8b
PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL MOVIE/TV SALES
FIRST HALF OF 2020 NORTH AMERICA
DISC MOVIE SELL -- $1.2b (six months)
DISC RENTAL -- $1.8b (six months)
DISC -- roughly $6b a year
DIGITAL MOVIE -- $1.6b (six months)
DIGITAL RENTAL -- $3b (six months)
DIGITAL -- roughly $9b a year
In 2014 -- DVD Bluray sales were $10b
DISC AND DIGITAL SALES AND RENTAL COMBINED ABOUT $15b in 2020
DOES NOT INCLUDE PVOD
BOOK PUBLISHING
Total Books published in North America:
2022: 3.043 million (584,283 trad published/2,459,367 self-published
2023: 3,236,584 (563,019 trad published/2,673,565 self-published) More self, less trad)
PW estimates self-published royalties (via Kindle Unlimited), sales etc surpass $3b
Per PW Nov 2024
ABA – American Booksellers Association
As of Dec 2022 –
2,185 indie bookstores and chains
2,599 total locations
ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
As of June 2023, per Academy filing, it has 10,261 voting members.
Actors: 1,276
Short film and features animation: 858
Executives: 720
Per Oscar Wars book: Movie attendance, which had peaked at 78.2 million a week in 1946, was on a downward slide that would bottom out at 15.8 million by 1971.
BROADWAY
In the season 2023-2024:
12.3m tickets sold
Average age 42.1
64.8% women (32% men and 3.2% nonbinary, beyond)
28% of audience BIPOC-- second largest percentage since they began survey in 1996
Average household income: $276,000!
