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I’m incredibly allergic to hype, and I constantly complain about people overreacting to one-off events or data points. That can make me seem like a contrarian, so let me be super clear on one thing:
KPop Demon Hunters is a SMASH hit.
If it continues the way it’s going, it will become Netflix’s biggest film, and it will eventually best Encanto as the biggest streaming film of all time. (Reminder: “all time” starts in 2020, the dawn of the Streaming Ratings EraTM.)
What’s more interesting, to me, is how unusual this film’s performance is; Kpop Demon Hunters has the most unique viewership pattern in history.
Of course, the more unique something is, ironically, the fewer lessons one should draw from it. You don’t draw sweeping generalizations from outliers. (Well, you do if you’re a journalist, which is kinda funny when you think about it.) In particular, I’ve seen a lot of folks speculate that “only Netflix” could have made KPop Demon Hunters a hit. Hmm. What does the data say about that? Or I’ve seen folks speculate this would have bombed in theaters. What does the data say about that?
Anyways, I love checking in on films and TV shows after their initial debut to judge how their entire run fared, not just the opening, and KPop absolutely deserves an update. Though fair warning, I plan to use the data, comparisons and history to guide this analysis, not hype. My goal is to put this film into proper context, with the best comparisons possible. And then, of course, draw some strategy lessons.
KPop Demon Hunters – The Biggest, Most Unique Netflix Release Yet
KPop Demon Hunters is doing very, very, very well on Netflix. As usual, I’m going to focus most on Nielsen’s data in the US, since we have the most public data for ALL the streamers with that look. But to show how unique KPop really is, here’s a fun look from Kasey Moore at What’s on Netflix showing that KPop gained strength week over week on the charts:
Netflix hasn’t seen a film perform like that ever before. The typical blockbuster starts big, has an even bigger second week, then fades off the charts. (More examples coming later in the article.) We hardly ever see films stay that steady week-after-week on the charts.
I say hardly, because one other film did perform exactly like this, and somehow the news coverage of KPop had collective amnesia remembering it. So say it with me:
Encanto.
The best comp films for KPop are probably Encanto and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, so let me show that comparison next. I’ll also add Leo (Netflix’s previous animation champion) and A Minecraft Movie (which I’ll dive into more in the next section).
Man, how short our memories can be. Looking at this chart, one thing leaps out to me:
Encanto performed better than KPop Demon Hunters through eight weeks.
Here’s a different visualization of the same data showing the weekly ratings:
That’s the weekly look, because it shows how unique Encanto and KPop performed compared to other hit kids films. Both started okay, then gained steam, though Encanto started stronger. And that’s on a much smaller streamer. Though to be fair, Netflix and Disney probably have nearly equal penetration/usage among young children, the folks driving most of this repeat viewing. KPop, though, continues to get stronger week after week.
I’ll also mention that at the time Encanto was smashing it on the charts, a lot of Netflix bulls disregarded it with the “Well, it’s just kids rewatching it” line, but those same people are celebrating KPop. Me? I celebrate both. Sure, it’s kids rewatching the movie over and over again, but that’s a good thing.
Anyways, we sometimes forget history. Every few years, a kids film comes along that just smashes it, usually because the music is insanely, over-the-top good. To tell a quick history:
We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out…
- How KPOP Demon Hunters stacks up to top Disney films
- Netflix animation’s updated hit rate…
- HBO Max’s biggest movie of all-time…
- The case for sending kids films to theaters…
- The key thing that separtes Encanto and KPop from the rest…
- And more!
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