Spanish Agency ICEX Pacts With Parrot Analytics as Spain’s ‘Society of the Snow’ Posts Second-Best Non-English Film Bow in Netflix History

Just after Spaniard J.A. Bayona’s Oscar-shortlisted “Society of the Snow” opened on Netflix to a massive 55.8 million hours watched over Jan. 4-7 – the second best bow ever in watching time for a non-English Netflix movie  – ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, the country’s powerful export and inward investment board, has unveiled a new deal with Parrot Analytics.

Under the agreement, Parrot Analytics will make its services available at a discount to Spanish producers, furthering their titles’ platform potential, and chance of co-production and sales.

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The deal makes a lot of sense. Parrot Analytics uses a bouquet of engagement metrics across social media and streaming numbers to establish the demand and value of IPs at a regional, territory and platform level. It estimates it analyses the behaviour of 2 billion consumers worldwide.

The agreement comes as “Society of the Snow” 55.8 million hours watched in only bested among Netflix non-English films by Norway’s “Troll.” “Society’s” performance rolls off great word-of-mouth, its Oscar buzz and great reviews.

Of 2023 Netflix non-English movie releases, “Society of the Snow’s” 22.9 million first four-day views is bested by those for “Nowhere,” also from Spain, which scored 23.8 million off a late September bow.

In another Spanish platform success, “Money Heist” spin-off “Berlin” sits at No. 1 by a large head on Netflix global non-English series charts for the second week running.

In March 2021, Spanish president Pedro Sánchez announced a hugely ambitious Spain AVS Hub plan, designed to plow €1.6 billion (€1.8 billion) into the country’s audiovisual sector, prioritising it as a key E.U. funded driver of post-pandemic economic recovery.

One way that can work is by firing up Spain as an international big shoot local. In 2022, according to Profilm, an association grouping 18 of its top line producers on overseas productions filming in Spain, Spain hosted shoots for 49 international productions, attracted by among the best shoot incentives in Europe. The shoots generated a direct investment of €288.2 million ($317.0 million), more than doubling a pre-pandemic highpoint of €133.6 million ($147.0 million) in 2016.

Another growth driver is inward investment in Spain from global streamers, mindful of the breakout potential of Spain’s big series in a market of 570 million Spanish-speakers.

Again, Spain is on a roll. In 2022, in Europe, most fiction titles commissioned by global streamers were produced in Spain (34) and the U.K. (32), according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. In 2023, film and TV titles from Spain have ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s global non-English Top 10 charts for more weeks – 13 – than those from any other country in the world, apart from South Korea.

Spanish titles, as ‘Society of the Snow,’ ‘Berlin’ or last year’s ‘Nowhere’ underscored, have huge potential. Yet, in the absence of hard data from many platforms, producers still need guidance on what works where or is in demand, to exploit for example opportunities in underserved markets, one object of Parrot Analytics reports.

“This collaboration with Parrot Analytics will help us support the Spanish companies that bring our top local content from Spain to the world,” said Carmen Jordan, director for Creative Industries, ICEX.

She added: “Parrot Analytics’ product suite combines unique insights with comprehensive content supply and demand analysis, enabling our producers and distributors to predict the performance and monetary contribution of their content in specific territories and on specific platforms, providing Spanish companies with most sophisticated research tools, until now only available to major studios and streaming platforms.”

“Our mission is to help connect consumers with the content they love, and working with ICEX will enable us to further this mission with the vibrant Spanish entertainment industry,” said Jaime Otero, VP Partnerships, Parrot Analytics, who was appointed this May to power PA’s international roll-out.

“As the appetite for international content keeps growing in the global marketplace, this collaboration will help bring Spanish companies to the forefront of data and technology to support their business, particularly in international sales and co-productions,” Otero added.

The deal with ICEX follows on a service agreement with the British Film Institute announced in July 2023 which sees Parrot Analytics supplying data for monthly reports on the 20 most in-demand films, TV shows and talents for the U.S.,U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Parrot Analytics works with studios led by Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures; media and technology companies taking in Amazon, Comcast and Google; networks such as Sky and Turner; government agencies such as Canadian Media Fund; and streaming services such as Max and Prime Video.

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