Last week at APEX TECH, the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), the leading international airline association focused on passenger experience, awarded regional Passenger Choice Awards to airlines in North America, South America, and Europe. The awards recognize airlines for excellence in seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, entertainment, and Wi-Fi.

Our prominent client Ethiopian Airlines succeeded and won the Best Regional Entertainment Passenger Choice Award in Africa. We are delighted with the achievement, as this award represents and confirms our dedication to boosting passengers’ inflight experience.

Ethiopian Airlines has been our client for the past 8 years. We’ve been proactive in identification and suggestion of an eclectic content that resonates well with passengers. Ranging from the latest Hollywood blockbusters, to regional TV shows and documentaries, a selective Kids channel and great destination videos, Ethiopian offers something for everybody.

To top it all up, the airline provides this content in unbelievable 13 languages (including Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Amharis, African and Hindi). One of the unique aspects of the ET Entertainment is locally sourced African films from a variety of regions and a wide variety of dialects. The depth and complexity of the content selection can be compared to the best in the world.

We at Inflight Dublin are extremely proud to have helped Ethiopian Airlines win yet another valuable award and we’re looking forward to the bright future.

I recently came across an article called “The Relative Popularity of Genres Around the World” by Stephen Follows and Bruce Nash.

About how liked (or disliked) certain genres are in different countries, it’s a fascinating piece of research.

I thought it’d be a good idea to take a look at their findings.

Let’s dive in.

If we take 0% as the global average of a genre’s popularity, we can see, with a rating of 83%, that Italy really loves comedy movies.

I wasn’t surprised to see this. This is, after all, the country that gave us its very own comedy subgenre: commedia all’italiana (or “Comedy the Italian Way”).

At the opposite end, with a score of 64% below the global average, is South Korea.

South Koreans, generally speaking, like the genre to be part of a blend in their films. Parasite, for instance: a movie that’s as much a comedy as it is a thriller and drama.

So it mightn’t be a case that they dislike it, but rather prefer comedy to be another colour in an eclectic mix.

Let’s take a look at action movies.

This is an interesting one.

Whereas Italians are the world’s great lovers of comedy, with a score of 30% below, they’re not too fond of action.

South Korea, who weren’t keen on comedy, love it as much as the Italians don’t: they have a high rating of 40%. The two countries have the opposite taste in films!

The birthplace of Kung Fu, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, it’s not surprising that China tops the list.

However, for a country that gave us Bruce Willis, Sly Stallone and Chuck Norris, North America’s rating of 17% below is very surprising indeed.

Documentaries are huge in the US and Canada. Given the ubiquity of brands like National Geographic and Discovery, as well as names like Neil deGrasse Tyson, this isn’t unexpected.

The two countries have produced some excellent feature-lengths recently – Apollo 11, RBG, American Factory and Free Solo to name a few – and this has established them as leaders in documentary filmmaking.

There’s a correlation across the three Asian countries (South Korea, Japan and China). They all score well below the global average.

But this doesn’t mean that they don’t produce documentaries, and good ones too: Jiro Dreams of Sushi is one of my perfonal faves, and Last Train Home, Old Partner and Up the Yangtze are worth checking out too.

Remember what I wrote about South Korea and Italy having opposing tastes? Well, hold that thought. Because, with scores of 50% and 40% respectively, both countries find common ground in a love of drama.

But the most curious stat here is the UK.

Much like how I was taken aback by the US’ lack of love for action, I was surprised by the UK’s rating for drama.

This is the country that gave us everything from Shakespeare to Austen to The Crown; surely there has to be a greater appreciation than 2% below?

I would wager that if plays, novels and TV were included, we’d see the UK at the top of this one. Perhaps that’s a study for another time!

Considering their lack of love for comedies (24% below), it’s interesting that Russians like the genre a lot more when there’s some romance thrown in.

I wasn’t surprised when I saw this, though.

I recently researched the Russian market and it struck me that, along with action and historical films, the country produces a lot of rom-coms.

Status Free, Ice 2, Imperfect Man and How I Became Russian come to mind; cheerful, easygoing crowd-pleasers that packed Russian cinemas.

Mexico leads the way with a score of 18% above.

Recent romance-tinged Hollywood blockbusters, like The Shape of Water and Fifty Shades Freed, did well here. Both went to number one at the domestic box office, and accrued higher grosses in Mexico than in similarly-sized territories.

The country has a healthy market for homegrown romances too; Tod@s caen with a gross of $136 million, was 2019’s best performing Mexican language film.

Mexican cinemagoers are an open-minded bunch; not only do they love romance, but horror movies too.

This is what critic Justina Bonilla had to say about the country’s ties to the genre (I recommend reading the original article here):

On the flipside of the coin, the genre dies a gruesome death in China where we see the highest disapproval rating yet: 100% below the global average. Roger Garcia, executive director of the Hong Kong film festival, gave his take in this 2016 interview:

Conclusion

Follows and Nashs’ figures aren’t an exact science, and there will always be exceptions. Action films that do well in Italy for instance, or horrors that fall flat in Mexico.

Nevertheless, there’s no doubting that it’s an important and insightful piece of cinematic research.

The findings show us, not just the specific likes and dislikes of a given country, but how changeable and fluid genre popularity is; depending on the territory and culture, you can have wildly different results.

To each their own, I guess!

At Inflight Dublin, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality film, TV and audio content to our clients. If you’d like to learn how we can do the same for your airline, get in touch. Connect with us here.

Image Credits

• Images created by Inflight Dublin, based on the research by Stephen Follows and Bruce Nash of the American Film Market.

Further Reading

• “The Relative Popularity of Genres Around the World” by Stephen Follows and Bruce Nash.
• “Why Scary Chinese Movies Are So Scarce” by Li Anlan.
• “15 Movies to Get You Started With Mexican Horror” by Carlos Aguilar.
• “The Era of Italian Comedy” by Ancos.
• “The Top-Rated Movie in Every Country” by Emily Petsko.

Inflight Dublin is delighted to announce the appointment of Howard Clark as Sales Director.

Howard Clark brings with him over 20 years of experience and knowledge of the IFE and Airline industry. Howard was part of the team who started IFE Services limited, in his role as Customer Services Director he quickly established a successful reputation in supporting & developing long-term customer relationships.

He then moved into the role of Business Development Director for 16 years. Following the acquisition of IFE Services by GEE, Howard was engaged by Hotel Connections in Miami to build a global client base in the Airline Crew accommodation business. He returned to the IFE industry in 2015 as Sales Director for GEE. Throughout his long IFE career, Howard has a strong reputation for delivering IFE solutions to Airlines.

With full responsibility for the sales and business development activities of Inflight Dublin’s business, Howard will play a key role in meeting the company’s aggressive growth goals as well as building on the firm’s outstanding reputation for proactive IFE service and speedy delivery to all clients.

Howard Clark added: ” I look forward to being part of Inflight Dublin’s Global team, and relish the challenges ahead as we continue with our ongoing growth and development within this fast-changing industry. As always, customer service will always be my number one focus and Inflight Dublin are perfectly positioned to provide this.”

Howard’s role commenced from 1st of April 2018.

Today Inflight Dublin announced a strategic, multiyear content service agreement with Air Greenland.  

Inflight Dublin will provide a suite of core inflight entertainment (IFE) content services, including movies, TV and broadcasts on the in-cabin Cloud Lounge seatback system aboard the A330 fleet.

IFE content will be provided in several languages including English and Danish.

“We are delighted to partner with Air Greenland on their first inclusion of IFE.” said John White, Inflight Dublin’s CEO. “Air Greenland is greatly enhancing its overall passenger experience by tapping Inflight Dublin’s unsurpassed IFE content in the sky. We look forward to launching these new services across the Air Greenland fleet.

IFE content will be available onboard of Air Greenland from 5^th of March 2018.

Inflight Dublin, the global IFE and wireless provider, has recently signed a contract with Air Tanzania to provide the latest content offering onboard its new fleet. This new content agreement includes the latest Hollywood movies, international and local titles, classic TV shows, broad audio selection and a range of broadcast shows. All content will be streamed via embedded Panasonic EX3 systems, which will certainly elevate inflight service. Inflight Dublin will provide additional audio services such as pre-recorded announcements and boarding music.

Air Tanzania has signed the contract for 5 years with an aim to significantly improve the airline’s passenger experience by offering IFE.

John White, Infight’s Dublin CEO adds:

“Our cooperation with Air Tanzania improves how its passengers enjoy the airline’s inflight service. As the flag carrier of Tanzania, the airline is committed to driving the nation’s aviation industry by adhering to the latest IFE trends. We are pleased to be part of their long-term plan.”

This new IFE offering will be available onboard Air Tanzania’s fleet from June 2018.

Inflight Dublin has been selected by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) for the provision of IFE services. Our collaboration with UIA aims to significantly improve the airline’s passenger experience through innovative content and supporting promotional services.  The new agreement supports UIA’s dedication to elevating passenger experience to the new heights.

Inflight Dublin will be offering a range of content, including Hollywood Blockbuster and Classics, a range of international titles and an eclectic mix of TV & Audio all available in multiple languages (including Ukrainian, Russian and Chinese), tailored to UIA’s passenger demographic.

In addition, Inflight Dublin is providing a range of the supporting services including the design and production of a dedicated IFE guide, an innovative IFE microsite and new inflight safety cards. All of this is promoted via a suite of IFD’s motion graphics, specifically carved to deliver an optimum user experience.

Although UIA has offered IFE to its passengers in the past, this is a first full VOD seatback IFE system installed onboard UIA, as well as first IFE offering from a Ukrainian airline so it is an exciting time for the airline!

Khrystyna Gankevych, Ukraine International Airline’s Regional Marketing Manager said:

John White, Inflight Dublin’s CEO, adds

“This is our first IFE partnership in the Eastern Europe and we couldn’t be more excited! There is a lot of firsts – first national carrier in Ukraine to offer IFE, first IFE offering for UIA, just to name a few.  Ukraine International Airlines’ continuous dedication to elevating passenger experience sits accordingly with our strategic vision on bringing IFE to every airborne passenger…”

The new IFE offering will launch on board UIA selected flights from January 2018.

Today, Inflight Dublin announced a strategic collaboration with American-French company SkyLights, which leverages VR headset technology to offer premium passengers a fully immersive cinematic experience.

This pioneering entertainment solution corresponds to the latest IFE trends, which seek to use technical innovation to unlock a new era of onboard entertainment.

With such strong results it is clear SkyLights offers airlines several benefits:

•  Improve the NPS of their premium guests
• Differentiate how passengers feel with a unique and memorable journey
• Boost the airline’s brand by certifying it as an industry pioneer
• Let passengers enjoy a cinematic experience with a choice of early window content available in different formats

“Our extensive international content collection certainly adds value to SkyLights’s technology. This is yet another great example how tech trends are being deployed in aviation market and we are proud to be part of it”, said John White, Inflight Dublin’s CEO.

Skylights’s CEO, David Dicko adds:

Skylights headsets have been successfully implemented onboard XL Airways and a fleet of corporate jets with several more announcements to come in the near future.

Inflight Dublin, leading in-flight entertainment content and software provider, today announced the signing of strategic, multi-year content service agreement with Somon Air.

Inflight Dublin will provide a suite of core in-flight entertainment (IFE) content services, including movies, TV, and audio on overhead and seatback systems aboard all Somon Air aircraft.

We are delighted to offer Somon Air up to 100 media titles, including the very latest movies, television, and audio programming on regional and international flights. The new partnership underlines Inflight Dublin’s continued expansion into the EurAsian region.