The movies and TV shows you watch on a flight have been perfectly curated just for your viewing pleasure – and chick flicks are often the first to be added to the rotation.
With popular box-office films such as Barbie ruling the theaters over the summer, a whole new demographic can now enjoy the film, with American Airlines, Southwest, United and Delta adding to their list this month.
According to Anuvu, a company which helps major airlines select their content, airlines worldwide spend a whopping half a billion dollars on in-flight entertainment every year, which encompasses movies, television shows, live TV, podcasts and music.
But, box-office hits aside, there’s one genre which is more popular than the rest amongst all passengers whilst they’re 32,000 feet in the air – romantic comedies.
Airlines worldwide spend an estimated half a billion dollars a year on movies every year, rotating between 20 to 25 per cent of their content every 30 days (stock image)
With popular box-office films such as Barbie ruling the theaters over the summer, a whole new demographic can now enjoy the film, with American Airlines, Southwest, United and Delta adding it to their rotation this month (pictured Margot Robbie as Barbie in the 2023 film)
According to Ekrem Dimbiloglu, Delta Airway’s managing director of in-flight entertainment and connectivity, there is an in-depth process that goes into choosing the films you see on board – and more goes into it than just adding new releases.
‘It’s not [about] what they want to watch,’ Ekrem told the Wall Street Journal. ‘They need to understand what our customers are consuming and want to consume.’
Ekrem, along with his team, spend time assessing Delta’s cliental for each month and matching it with what they think the best entertainment options would be.
Delta features about 1,000 on its flights, including 300 movies, with 20 to 25 per cent of the content changing every 30 days.
On Delta, the new content is manually loaded onto the aircrafts by technicians who are armed with devices containing the new movie and TV shows before sharing it onto the 840 planes.
Mark Muren, the managing director of product, identity and loyalty for United Airlines, said people are more likely to watch a new genre of film or TV when flying somewhere.
He added people also love to re-watch films, listing the Top Gun franchise as an example.
‘It’s not a big emotional commitment to watch it,’ Mark shared. ‘Lots of points during the movie, you can be semi-distracted.’
In-flight entertainment often reflects the interests of advertisers, governments and business entities (stock image)
A large proportion of passengers also seek comfort in the warm embrace of a romantic comedy.
‘We see a lot of grown men watching chick flicks on planes,’ he added.
According to Mark, the series people love to stream at home are also on high rotation on planes, listing Yellowstone, spinoffs 1923 and 1883, Abbott Elementary and Chernobyl as examples of series consumed on flights.
The Conversation noted in-flight entertainment often reflects the interests of advertisers, governments and business entities, writing: ‘It also follows that certain ideas, products and cultures are sold to passengers via in-flight entertainment.’
However, they said the increase of personal devices could spell the end for seatback screens.
‘A number of U.S. airlines, including American Airlines, United Airlines and Alaska Air, have removed seatback screens from their domestic planes,’ the piece read.
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