From the Gridiron To The Big Screen: The High Stakes Game Of Resource Allocation

With the return of the NFL this past weekend, overworked and anxiety-riddled general managers across the league are desperately attempting to address team needs on the fly while operating within the salary cap. It’s a high wire balancing act that isn’t reserved for just pro football. The entertainment industry is constantly attempting to squeeze the most value out of its product while working on a budget as well.  

Understanding audience demand vs. volume of supply is key for efficient resource allocation as studios, networks and streamers all plan out content slates.  In order to highlight the divergence between genres that can exist in entertainment and how that impacts programming budgets, Parrot Analytics looked at the global demand and supply of Horror and Soap Operas.

Horror vs. Soap Opera is a key comparison due to their very similar volume. (Their supply share, or the percentage of all available series that are in that genre, are 2.5% and 3.3% supply, respectively). Despite this, the two have markedly different demand shares. Horror punches above its weight with a 6.1% demand share worldwide while soap opera is arguably over saturated at 1.9%. 

When looking at the 10 most in-demand series within the horror genre, or shows that contain distinct horror elements, nine are among the top 0.2% of all shows year to date. The industry consistently sees horror movies over-perform at the theatrical box office, too and it appears as if their popularity also translates to the small screen too, suggesting the genre is well worth investing in as the return can be significant.