Vuulr Cites Drama as Most In-Demand Genre for 2020

Vuulr has revealed new platform data, including sales statistics, buyer adoption and location figures that provide a snapshot into global content demand in 2020, with drama emerging as the leading genre.

The data, sourced from over 8,000 deal negotiations for thousands of premium TV series and films in 2020, reveals that drama content was the most in-demand genre of overall deal negotiations on Vuulr (14 percent), but a broad range of genres was also represented with comedy (8 percent), documentary (7 percent), action (6 percent) and family (5 percent). More than 20 other genres made up the remaining 60 percent of transactions in 2020.

In terms of transactions, over 1,269 licensing deals were struck as the number of buyers on Vuulr has accelerated from 1,142 in January 2020 to 4,603 in mid-December 2020, a 300 percent increase in buyers in just under a year.

U.S. buyers have proven to be the industry leaders in the early adoption of content marketplaces, making up 31 percent of all the buyers registered but representing 47 percent of all the deals done on the marketplaces. Buyers from the U.K. represent 9 percent of registered buyers but only 3 percent of the transactions.

Overall, users of the Vuulr content marketplace increased from 3,143 in February to 8,194, a growth of 160 percent.

Ian McKee, CEO of Vuulr, said: “It’s amazing to think that we could fill the main Theatre at the Palais de Congress twice with the buyers now registered on the Vuulr marketplace. Content buyers and sellers, from mainstream and niche players, are demonstrating that the global demand for drama content remains undimmed, but the sheer variety of genres in demand suggests that buyers from around the world have been turning to digital providers to fulfill their channel needs during the pandemic.

“Many content buyers have tried Vuulr for the first time this year, as our catalog has expanded. We expect this to continue as we move towards a hybrid digital/ physical way of doing business. It’s certainly been a year of significant change and we expect to see more in 2021.”