When you’re stuck on a plane for hours on end, there are only so many things you can do. If you get a meal, it’ll take less than a half hour to eat. You’ll eventually want to stop playing Block Blast or reading Whistler: A Novel on your tablet. Sleep (if you’re lucky enough to be able to sleep) won’t last for the whole flight.
But if you chose an airline that offers inflight entertainment, you’ve got an entire library of movies at your fingertips. They’re all free to view on the flight, and provided by the airline.
But how do airlines pick what movies to offer?
For the most part, each airline has a small team that help determine what movies a given flight will offer. These teams often partner with content service providers (essentially middlemen between movie studios and airlines) who may offer recommendations based on the time of year, intended audience, etc. That’s why you’ll often see a selection of films that are appropriate for the Christmas season, Black Heritage Month, Halloween, Pride Month, etc. during those respective times of year.
Movies are also chosen based on data. Obviously, movies that were popular in theaters may be offered. Plus, of course, airlines can see what we choose to watch. So if a movie is never or rarely chosen, it can be removed. If a movie is being watched quite a bit, that’s noted as well, and similar movies (themes, stars, etc.) might be added.
However those aren’t the only factors involved in deciding which movies will be offered on a particular flight. The teams also take these into consideration:
Passenger mix
Taken into consideration: Projected age ranges, leisure vs. business passengers, and families vs. solo fliers.
How that may affect available movies: There may be more family titles vs. more dramas.
Route/region
Taken into consideration: The countries of departure and arrival, and the language(s) spoken in each (if an international flight)
How that may affect available movies: Films from the “other” country may be included, more films with subtitles
Aircraft
Taken into consideration: Seatback screens vs streaming content vs. offering no content
How that may affect available movies: Because they never do long haul flights, some smaller aircraft only carry shorter content.
Flight length
Taken into consideration: How long the flight is vs. how long the movie is.
How that may affect available movies: Short route = choice of shorter movies, more TV shows, etc. Long haul flights may offer old, long classics, trilogies, epics, etc.
Deals with the studios
Taken into consideration: Contracts with certain movie studios
How that may affect available movies: Some airlines may get exclusive early access to new releases from those studios
Deals with business partners
Taken into consideration: Contracts with brand partners, or for onboard sales and cross promotions
How that may affect available movies: Offerings may include sponsor trailers, branded shorts, or tie ins with loyalty programs
Ratings and content rules
Taken into consideration: Age and content guidelines based on airline policy and countries involved
How that may affect available movies: Edits to language, violence, and other sensitive scenes
Technical limitations
Taken into consideration: File size, encoding format, onboard server storage
How that may affect available movies: Catalog size
One more fun fact: airlines pay for these movies
Although we get to watch these films without paying, airlines don’t get these movies for free. How much they pay depends on a few factors:
Airlines are often allowed to show films after their initial theatrical run but before they become widely available on streaming services. The newer a film is, the higher it costs the airline to license it.
Older catalog titles come at lower cost. But lower cost doesn’t necessarily mean lower quality. Sometimes passengers want something familiar and are perfectly happy to see A League of Their Own for the 4,728th time (“Nobody cries in baseball!”). These lower-cost films also allows the airline to offer more options, so more people can find something they want to see.
So the next time you’re scrolling through an airline’s movie selection wondering why they have that movie but not this one, there’s usually a reason behind it.
What looks like a random collection of films is actually the result of a surprisingly complicated balancing act involving licensing costs, passenger preferences, flight lengths, aircraft capabilities, route demographics, studio relationships, and plenty of data.
Of course, no airline is ever going to make everyone happy.
For every passenger excited to find the latest blockbuster, there’s another who just wants to watch The Princess Bride for the 157th time. For every traveler looking for an Oscar-winning drama, there’s someone searching for mindless action movies that don’t require much thinking at 38,000 feet.
In the end, the goal isn’t necessarily to offer the “best” movies.
It’s to offer enough choices that, hopefully, everyone can find something worth watching before the wheels touch down.
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