The second window remains pivotal for distributors, particularly for studios looking to maximise revenue from their award winning originals by licensing to platforms other than their own. Show Tracker reveals the top buyers of second windows across key international markets.
Warner was the biggest home for second windows in 2023, supported largely by content from its own distribution arm arriving on its own service after a first window on a third party service. The same is true for many studio buyers, including SkyShowtime and to a lesser extent Paramount and Disney. Paramount’s joint venture with TV18 in India, Viacom18, saw some benefit from the Paramount relationship, but its huge numbers largely came from its SVOD JioCinema becoming the new home of HBO in India after the previous volume deal with Disney+ Hotstar ended.
Netflix’s second window acquisitions were too low to make the top ten of the year, but there has been increased activity from the likes of Warner in this area. It’s rival Amazon meanwhile remains a relatively prominent buyer of the second window. The now Amazon-owned MGM+ also became a huge buyer of second windows in 2023, after it acquired the majority of the Lionsgate+ catalogue in markets where the SVOD left last year.
When it comes to selling to third parties, the second window in 2023 was dominated by Warner selling to SVOD services such as JioCinema and BINGE in Australia.
SVOD and AVOD take up more of the third party second window sales than before, with this activity from the likes of Warner and Paramount skewing the trend away from Free TV being the biggest buyer of second windows. Some studios like Sony however still see Free TV taking up the majority of their second window targets.
Studio SVOD is certainly willing to acquire second windows to supplement their own catalogues fuelled by their own content. Disney acquired ‘Chapelwaite’, ‘Justified: City Primeval’ and ‘Party of Five’ from Sony for Disney+ in multiple markets and Disney engaged with Warner to acquire the HBO Original ‘Landscapers’ for their Star+ service in Latin America.
Its clear the second window still is a valuable opportunity for both local buyers and studio SVODs, with many distributors looking to find leverage in the market that will soon likely see more original content from both studios and the likes of Amazon in the future.
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