Emirates reveals most popular inflight content for 2023
A passenger enjoying ice content onboard an Emirates flight
Emirates’ has revealed its “ice wrapped” results, providing a look at the most watched and listened to content in its IFE service for 2023. Emirates customers watched and listened to a variety of content on journeys to and from 140 destinations around the world.
Emirates wrapped: Movies and box sets
Emirates’ inflight entertainment system, called ice, offers more than 6,500 channels of on-demand movies, TV shows, podcasts, music and live TV. There are more than 2,000 Hollywood and international movies available.
According to Emirates, the most watched movies on ice in 2023 included the sci-fi film Avatar: The Way of Water, the George Clooney and Julia Roberts rom-com Ticket to Paradise and the popular action movie Top Gun: Maverick.
The airline also noted that long-haul passengers frequently opted for box sets of movies inflight, such as The Lord of the Rings complete trilogy and all four of the John Wick films.
After English language content, the top viewed international movies included two Bollywood action movies, Vikram Vedha and Bholaa, the French thriller La Syndicaliste, Korean drama Return to Seoul and the 2023 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Anatomie d’une chute from France. Arabic speakers frequently watched the Emirati film Khorfakkan which depicts the 16th century invasion of the city.
In the Kids' entertainment category, popular choices in 2023 included Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Tom & Jerry: Cowboy Up!, "Teen Titans Go!," "DC Super Hero Girls" and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Emirates wrapped: Television series
The airline reported high viewership for all seasons of HBO Max’s "Succession" and both seasons of "The White Lotus." In the comedy genre, Emirates passengers spent many hours watching half-hour sitcoms like "Friends," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "The Big Bang Theory."
In the drama category, many travellers opted for two historical dramas: "The English" and "Women of the Movement". The drama "Your Honor" starring Bryan Cranston was also popular.
Trending TV in the Kids and Teens section included the sitcom "Schooled!" and "SpongeBob SquarePants." In entertainment for younger kids, Australia’s "Bluey" and "Hey Duggee" and "Supertato" from the UK were top picks.
On Emirates ice live TV channels including Sport 24, BBC World News, CNN and Sky News Arabia, customers tuned into an array of sports and social events including the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Formula 1® races, NFL Superbowl, English Premier League, Augusta Masters, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Rugby World Cup 2023, Wimbledon, DP World Tour and the US Open Tennis. The single most-watched sports event on Emirates live TV in 2023 was the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Emirates wrapped: Music and podcasts
Emirates’ ice offers passengers a choice of more than 3,000 albums, 500+ curated playlists, more than 40,000 tracks. With more than 4,000 hours of music and podcasts to enjoy, these were the most listened to choices for passengers in 2023.
The most popular albums on ice were Mozart’s chamber music, Ed Sheeran’s album "Subtract" and Taylor Swift’s "Midnights" album. Kids onboard most frequently listened to Juniors Music with "Cocomelon," "Bluey," "Kidz Bop" and the Encanto soundtrack.
The most popular playlists onboard Emirates flights included the Arijit Singh playlist, ABBA’s timeless pop anthems and the best of Fairuz and Khaleeji classics. In global music, the top trending regions customers accessed were India, Korea and Africa, with the most listened to artists being Jimin from Korea, Burna Boy from Nigeria and SB19 from the Philippines.
Audio experiences like the rain, sleep & nature sounds playlist were also popular among passengers who wanted to relax onboard.
Emirates wrapped: Happiness and wellbeing content
Emirates ice library has a dedicated area for happiness and wellbeing content which is popular with flyers. Nature relaxation series invite passengers to listen to soothing sounds inflight while an array of explorative documentaries offer global insight.
A popular choice for passengers in 2023 was "Living Wild: How to Change Your Life," a series where Sophie Morgan goes on a road trip across the UK to meet people united by a desire to build new lives around the things they love.
Storytelling with Gian Power: What’s your life story? also proved popular. In this content, TLC Lions founder, Gian Power, dives into the powerful world of storytelling and advises the audience on how their personal story can become their greatest strength.
A strong year for Emirates’ ice
Emirates is closing out 2023 with the biggest movies of the year on ice. Passengers can expect to find box office hits like Barbie on the IFE system, available in French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and Chinese. Barbie is also available with closed captions (CC) and audio description (AD) offering accessibility to the visually impaired, with narration that describes what is happening on screen. Emirates offers up to 130 movies with AD and more than 250 with CC.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, which was filmed in the UAE, is also available on ice in up to eight languages, along with The Equalizer 3, starring Denzel Washington. Passengers can watch the entire trilogy on ice.
Gran Turismo, based on the true story of racing driver Jann Mardenborough, a successful gamer who becomes a real-life racer, is available on ice as well. The IFE system also has an exclusive interview with Jann Mardenborough speaking about the making of the movie in the Emirates World podcast.
Content coming to ice in 2024
Looking ahead to 2024, Emirates’ passengers can expect to see lots of new content coming to ice, from exclusive partnerships to next-generation inflight entertainment systems that offer personalized passenger experiences.
In January, passengers can watch the Expend4bles inflight, plus the complete box set of all 4 movies. The Creator, from the director of Rogue One, will also become available onboard in Janaury along with the popular kids’ film, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.
In February, ice will add Oppenheimer, the award-winning film from Christopher Nolan, to its selection along with Priscilla, directed by Sofia Coppola.
