Book Adaptations Fuel Max’s April Growth in Earned Media Value

An April analysis of the streaming video landscape from CreatorIQ reveals that only two services saw month-over-month growth in Earned Media Value (EMV): Max and Paramount+. EMV is CreatorIQ’s metric for quantifying the estimated value of consumer engagement with digital earned media. 

Max’s $25.9 million April EMV represented a 20% increase from March, although it was a 12% year-over-year decline from April 2023. The streamer also saw month-over-month growth in impressions (+51% vs. March) and engagements (+46%). Looking at straight EMV overall, Netflix took first place among video streaming services with $78.1 million EMV (a 26% decline from March). Prime Video, which was No. 2 for April EMV ($34.3 million), saw a 12% month-over-month decrease — but it had the highest growth year-over-year, 35% compared to April 2023. 

Two new premieres — both based on novels — helped drive much of Max’s momentum: The Sympathizer, a miniseries based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-prize winning book, and the romantic drama film Turtles All the Way Down, adapted from the John Green novel.

Posts including #TheSympathizer accrued $608K EMV, aided in part by promotions from featured actors including Robert Downey Jr and Sandra Oh. Meanwhile, social content with the hashtag #TurtlesAllTheWay Down generated $746.9K EMV. Although the movie didn’t debut until May 2, stars including Felix Mallard pumped up the pre-launch buzz to secure additional EMV for Max in April.

"In media and entertainment, marketers often focus on celebrities and Hollywood A-listers for promotion, but that's not the only path to success," said Alex Rawitz, Director of Research and Insights at CreatorIQ. "Creators are also driving significant impact for streaming platforms by sparking organic conversations about their interests and favorite shows, which is driving media value, community engagement, tune-in and other viewership KPIs."

Paramount+ was the only other video streamer that grew EMV from March to April. Its $22.3 million EMV represented a 4% month-over-month growth, and CreatorIQ’s analysis revealed an interesting difference in EMV generation between Max and Paramount+: While Instagram accounted for eight of Max’s top 10 EMV-driving posts, it was YouTube that did the heavy lifting for Paramount+, hosting 24 of its top 30 posts by EMV. The vast majority came from UEFA and The Daily Show, which harnessed Jon Stewart’s return to engage viewers. 

For more insights around the creator economy, check out CreatorIQ’s Top 10 reports here.