Studios continue to experiment with distribution strategies for their films to maximise their value beyond the box office. Significant attention has been placed on release timings, aiming to balance scheduling so that the box office, transactional, and subsequent licensing windows can all generate revenue without cannibalising one another.
One promising area in licensing is the apparent willingness of international services to share the Pay-One window for films with competitors. This not only opens up more buyers for studios to target but also allows them to support their own SVOD services while earning additional revenue through licensing fees. Movie Tracker reveals the growing phenomenon of co-exclusive Pay-One windows with simultaneous releases.
Australia has emerged as a hotspot for co-exclusive Pay-One windows, with over two-thirds of 2023’s films sold in such deals occurring in this market. Foxtel, the local Pay TV operator, plays a pivotal role in this trend, sharing the Pay-One window for most of the titles it acquires. Even in cases where Foxtel offers an exclusive release across its Pay TV channels and BINGE SVOD service, a second showing on a third-party platform typically follows soon after. For example, Warner’s ‘The Flash’ was exclusive to Foxtel for just a month in April 2024 before it became available on Netflix, and it remains on both services today.
NBCUniversal has been the most active participant in co-exclusive windows, especially in Australia, where it has shared Pay-One with Foxtel and Netflix for most of its 2023 slate. The exception for 2023 is ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’ which was shared instead with Amazon Prime. This was the last of a previous deal with Amazon for their SVOD to share Pay-One for NBCU movies with Foxtel.
Paramount has also been heavily involved in these arrangements, though more often to the benefit of its own SVOD Paramount+. In Sky regions, Paramount has shared titles between Sky and Paramount+, while in Mexico, it instead shares the Pay-One window on Paramount+ with fellow Studio SVOD Disney+. In Japan, the latest ‘Mission Impossible’ was licensed to both Wowow Prime and Netflix. Wowow has become more open to co-exclusive windows, similar to Australia’s Foxtel, sharing titles from NBCU and Warner with platforms like Amazon (for NBCU titles) and Netflix (for Warner titles).
While co-exclusive deals have existed for some time in Australia, recent years have seen a significant increase in such activity. The presence of studio-owned SVOD services plays a role, though most of Foxtel’s shared Pay-One windows in the past two years have been with Netflix or Amazon.
The end of NBCUniversal’s deal with Amazon has accelerated Netflix’s dominance in shared Pay-One windows in Australia, , while Paramount’s focus on Paramount+ contributes to a smaller proportion of shared windows. It is clear that the studios most benefiting from these types of deals are those selling entirely to third parties, rather than those who would rather use the opportunity buyers like Foxtel and Wowow present to support their own services.
The rise of co-exclusive Pay-One windows marks yet another significant shift in how studios approach film distribution. Its growing acceptance among prominent local buyers allows studios greater flexibility, enabling them to support their own services while generating revenue from external sources. With broadcasters seemingly open more to second windows and shared windows are also becoming more common for TV series, it is the film distribution market that continues to lead the way in this area, establishing a new strategy that studios and buyers alike must keep track of to remain competitive.
While shared windows are also becoming more common for TV series, it is the film distribution market that continues to lead the way with concurrent usage, establishing a new strategy that studios and buyers alike must keep track of to remain competitive.
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