DEG Live Session

Streaming by the Numbers: Where Content Lives, How Catalogs Compete, and What It Means for Your Business

Only 12% of movies in active distribution are available on the top 8 U.S. SVOD services. In this session, Reelgood CEO David Sanderson and State of Streaming President Tim Rowe unpack what the data shows about where content actually lives, how platform strategies are diverging, and what the blind spots in catalog intelligence are costing the industry.

David Sanderson CEO, Reelgood
Tim Rowe President, State of Streaming
Presented with DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group
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88%
of movies live outside the Top 8 SVODs
2.5 mo
median time from paid to free (2025)
280K+
movies tracked across 300+ services
7x
genre gap in windowing speed
Overview

The streaming market is far bigger than most people track

Industry conversations about streaming tend to center on 8 platforms. But Reelgood's database tells a different story. Of the 280,000+ movies in active distribution globally, only about 34,000 - roughly 12% - are available on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, or Apple TV+ combined.

The other 88%, more than 246,000 titles, are distributed across hundreds of smaller SVOD services, available only through AVOD or TVOD models, or not available in the U.S. at all. For TV shows, the picture is only marginally better: just 21% of the roughly 68,000 series tracked globally make it onto the Top 8.

This session walks through the data behind these gaps and explores what they mean for content acquisition, licensing, product strategy, and competitive intelligence. Every data point in this presentation is sourced from Reelgood's streaming availability database and published research.

Topics Covered

What the session explores

The Streaming Iceberg

88% of movies aren't on the platforms most consumers subscribe to. Where do the other 246,000+ titles actually live? A breakdown by access model: 59,000+ on other SVOD services, 62,000+ on AVOD/TVOD/TVE only, and 127,000 not available in the U.S. at all.

The Windowing Clock

The median time from paid streaming to free/AVOD dropped from 6 months in 2020 to 2.5 months in 2025. But genre matters: horror and thriller titles reach free platforms in under 5 months, while animation and kids content takes 33 months.

Content in Motion

A single title can move across 5 platforms in 3 years. Real-time availability tracking reveals how titles cycle between SVOD windows, TVOD rentals, and back - and why rights management teams need better data.

Genre Strategy Divergence

Platforms are making measurably different content bets. Disney+ doubled its Reality catalog (+101.7%), Netflix invested heavily in Sci-Fi (+60.6%), and Prime Video grew Game Shows by 45%. These are distinct strategic fingerprints forming in the data.

Catalog Depth

Most streaming TV catalogs are shallower than they appear. On some platforms, more than 85% of TV series have only 1-2 seasons. What does that mean for subscriber retention and the perceived value of a subscription?

The Blind Spots

81 HBO Max movies were absent from HBO Max's own Prime Video channel - including titles like Dune and Moonlight. When content goes missing from distribution channels, the risks are both legal (contractual compliance) and commercial (lost discovery).

Presentation Deck

Download or view the slides

Streaming by the Numbers

The full slide deck from the DEG Live Session, including all data visualizations, source citations, and key findings. 15 slides covering the streaming iceberg, windowing acceleration, genre divergence, catalog depth, and content blind spots.

All data sourced from Reelgood's streaming availability database (280,000+ movies, 68,000 TV shows, 300+ services) and published Reelgood Insights research.

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Key Questions Answered

What percentage of movies are available on the top streaming services?

Only about 12% of movies in active distribution globally are available on the top 8 U.S. SVOD services (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, and Apple TV+). That's roughly 34,000 out of more than 280,000 titles tracked by Reelgood. The remaining 88% are distributed across smaller subscription services, ad-supported platforms, rental/purchase models, or are not available to U.S. audiences at all.

The median time from paid streaming availability to free/AVOD has dropped significantly over the past five years. In 2020, the median was 6 months. By 2022, it had fallen to 4 months. In 2025, it's down to 2.5 months. However, this varies significantly by genre: horror and thriller titles reach free platforms in under 5 months, while animation and kids content takes approximately 33 months - a 7x gap. Data from Reelgood's Distribution Arc analysis based on 7,966 popular movies across 240 platforms.
Reelgood's catalog analysis shows that major streaming platforms are making measurably different genre bets. In 2025, Disney+ grew its Reality content catalog by 101.7%. Netflix invested heavily in Sci-Fi (+60.6%). Amazon Prime Video expanded Game Shows by 45.0%. HBO Max grew Anime by 37.5%. These shifts represent distinct strategic identities forming across platforms, visible in the underlying content catalog data. Source: Reelgood Unspooled 2025 Report.
Reelgood's catalog data reveals that content regularly goes missing from distribution channels. In one documented case, 81 HBO Max movies - approximately 4% of the catalog - were absent from HBO Max's Amazon Prime Video channel, including titles like Dune: Part One and Moonlight. Without a universal content identifier and real-time catalog monitoring, these gaps can persist undetected, creating both contractual compliance risk and lost consumer discovery.
Nearly half of all movies (45%) and TV shows (48%) in Reelgood's global database are not available to stream in the United States under any business model - that's approximately 127,000 movie titles and 32,000 TV shows. These aren't obscure titles: many have active distribution deals in international markets across Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. This represents a significant pool of content with proven demand that remains unlicensed domestically. Source: Reelgood Streaming Iceberg analysis, November 2025.

Data Sources

See what your catalog is missing

Reelgood tracks streaming availability across 300+ services and 4 million+ titles. Get title-level data on availability gaps, competitive positioning, and content movement across the streaming landscape.

Get real-time data today