No genre stands out in the lead-up to Halloween like horror, but its popularity has grown well beyond the arrival of the season. As of Oct. 10, 2023, the 43 horror films released theatrically this year had already generated more revenue than the genre’s total box office in 20221. That popularity extends to TV audiences, and not just around Halloween.
This year, in fact, four recent big-budget horror movies debuted on Nielsen’s top 10 list when they became available to streaming audiences.
Given these four films’ large budgets, high-profile casts and well-known directors, they were never in any danger of not being seen by prospective viewers. That, however, is not the case for the thousands of other horror titles that are screaming to be watched. In fact, TV audiences now have nearly 1.1 million2 unique horror titles to choose from, which span across six different sub-genres. While the vast majority fall into the general horror category, more than 189,000 fall into the paranormal sub-category.
有了这么多的选择，再加上寻找内容的地方越来越多，观众要找到自己感兴趣的内容可能会很困难。事实上，在尼尔森 2023 年 6 月的流媒体消费者调查中，44% 的受访者表示，由于可供选择的服务太多，他们越来越难找到自己想要的内容。更有甚者，只有 62% 的人说他们在打开流媒体服务时就知道自己想看什么。
为了帮助受众的内容之旅，推荐引擎和十大榜单已成为视频点播（VOD）流媒体服务的标准配置。但是，推广内容传送带通常只展示平台内容中的一小部分，而且十大榜单提供的是所有用户中流行的标题，而不是特定用户可能喜欢的内容。从这个角度来看，只有 27% 的受访者强烈同意菜单推荐有助于找到可看的内容也就不足为奇了。他们认为视觉效果更重要，因为 36% 的受访者认为标题的缩略图对决定观看什么非常重要。
With consumers increasingly expecting personalized experiences, content owners and streaming services can leverage tools like Gracenote’s 个性化图像 for thumbnails and 流媒体频道数据 to help audiences find content when they aren’t familiar with specific program titles. Descriptive metadata, like 视频描述符, can also fill in the gaps that traditional program information has.
The basic program information associated with John Carpenter’s 1978 film Halloween, for example, isn’t capable of helping a platform or service suggest this film to audiences looking for something that interests them at a personal level. That’s because basic program information only includes details like program title, summary, genre, production date, primary cast, run time and country of origin.
但是，当平台或服务利用与影片相关的 10 种不同内容属性中的 30 个单独的 Gracenote 视频描述符时，就能为观众提供更有意义的内容之旅。这些描述符还可以帮助进行情境广告定位。
除了帮助观众找到他们感兴趣的内容外，从竞争和个性化的角度来看，元数据也将变得越来越重要，因为单个影片可以在多种服务中使用。这种趋势虽然对许多大制作来说是新趋势，但对寻求尽可能多的观众曝光率的中小成本项目来说却非常普遍。
Excluding big-budget films like Nope 和 Scream VI, non-exclusivity in the horror genre is very common. And when a single program is available in more than one place, the onus of audience engagement is in the hands of the individual services. According to Gracenote 视频数据, only one-third of the video titles available in the U.S. are exclusive to either linear TV or a subscription service.
To illustrate, let’s look at Terrifier 2, a break-out success story from last year. Made for approximately $250,000, the independent slasher sequel gained so much media attention because of its over-the-top effects that it ultimately gained widespread theatrical release and grossed $10.6 million in the U.S. alone. Now, as work on a third installment with a 7-figure budget is in development, Terrifier 2 is making the rounds across a number of streaming services in the lead up to Halloween. While some services change their libraries frequently, online streaming guide JustWatch highlights that audiences can find the film on four subscription services and two FAST services. It’s also available for rent on nine services and for purchase on seven.
对于受众而言，平台选择和访问选项的多样性是关键所在，如果没有细化的元数据和独特的内容 ID，JustWatch 这样的服务就无法为观众提供更多选择。
"Gracenote 产品副总裁 Filiz Bahmanpour 说："元数据的力量并不局限于内容或平台。"当你进行互联网搜索时，它就变成了一种工具，可以查看更深层次的元数据，帮助确定观众为什么想要观看某些内容。如今，有了元数据，描述符甚至包括情绪、主题和场景等内容。
Combined, the universal ID for Terrifier 2 ensures that audiences can find it, and the 34 unique Video Descriptors provide content aggregators and streaming services with the ability to provide more personalized content journeys for their audiences.
资料来源
- The-numbers.com
- Gracenote 全球视频数据，2023 年 10 月
For additional insights, download our latest State of Play report, which focuses on the importance of data-driven personalization and streaming content discovery.
