'Borat' Streams Hit 1.6 Million TV Homes, National TV Ad Spend At $20.4 Million

Amazon Prime Video’s premium streaming movie -- “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” -- has now bested Disney+'s “Mulan” as the top theatrically intended movie shifted to premium streaming distribution.

For its opening weekend, Samba TV says, 1.6 million U.S. TV homes streamed the movie during its recent Thursday to Sunday opening. Samba TV gleans streaming data from connected TV usage on smart TV sets.

Previously, on Labor Day weekend, “Mulan” -- another movie intended for theatrical release -- hit 1.12 million U.S TV home streams. Movie studios have now shifted some films intended for theaters to streaming services.

Samba says that almost half of “Borat” streaming viewing was from a Friday night viewing. Nearly half of the households (48%) that watched Borat did so on Friday night.

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Heavy viewing came from the 25- to-44 age bracket (over-indexed by 4%) and males  (also over-indexed by 4%). Households with 25- to-44-year-olds were the only age bracket to over-index, by 4%.

Reports say “Borat” attempted to get theatrical distribution from movie distributors but was rejected due to its political content. The movie was intended to be released around the time of the election.

Samba TV's methodology defines viewership as having watched at least five cumulative minutes among a panel size of 3.9 million U.S. TV homes.

Amazon spent $16.3 million in national and regional TV advertising on “Borat” in the last two weeks -- and $20.4 million overall.

A total of 1,126 airings of the movie advertising ran, pulling in 468.5 million impressions.

With an audience of mostly younger male viewers, major spending went to NFL football, Major League Baseball, and ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

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