‘Turning Red’ Is the Most In-Demand Animated Movie on Streaming | Charts

It’s not surprising that Disney dominates the animated film landscape. The top three animated films in second-quarter 2022, were “Turning Red,” “Encanto,” and “Luca,” according to Parrot Analytics‘ newly launched Movie Demand data, which takes into account consumer research, streaming, downloads and social media, among other engagement.

The dominance of “Turning Red” demonstrates continued demand and adoration for both Pixar and Disney Animation titles. “Turning Red” — the coming-of-age movie that follows 13-year-old Mei Lee who turns into a giant red panda when she’s excited — saw a staggering 81 times the average demand of all other films in the United States, putting it in the exceptional category, which only 0.2% of films reach.

“Encanto” and “Luca,” both of which debuted on Disney+ months ago, still saw an outstanding 30.9 times and 24.2 times the average demand of other films in the U.S., respectively.

Children’s content, including family animated fare, has a stickiness that other films don’t have. The continued demand for these three films reiterates that if children’s content is done well, the engagement with those titles will last longer than other films, creating an extended run on overall demand and a potential stronger return on initial investment. For a company like Disney, if someone’s favorite movie is “Encanto” or “Luca,” as long as those films are available on the platform, the value of that subscription to the subscriber is high.

The same goes for classic titles like 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and 1988’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” an animated/live-action hybrid film — both also streaming on Disney+. These titles still show strong demand from consumers who will seek them out on platforms and pay for access to those titles. This is the intrinsic value of a title to a platform when it comes to these key metrics: growth, retention and referral value to other titles on a platform.

Disney isn’t the only player in the game, though. The fourth most in-demand animated movie available on streaming platforms is “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” which Sony sold to Netflix during the pandemic. The Oscar-nominated film quickly found an audience on Netflix, and it’s still showing strong demand today. Family entertainment was a strong investment from Netflix over the last couple of years, with the streamer wanting to release six animated features a year — more than Disney Animation and Pixar. With the shift in macroeconomic headwinds, however, and Netflix facing a massive drop in market capital, that may change as Netflix refocuses strategies.

What is still evident, however, is that animated titles are a core offering on streaming services. They can help bring in customers and, once subscribed, offer the type of sticky content that’s necessary for continued subscriber retention.

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