Our content testing frameworks, used in Ormax Moviescope and Ormax Stream Test, have been built on a genre-agnostic philosophy. OPR (Ormax Power Rating) drivers, by design, are meant to capture viewer gratification, which is not a function of the genre itself. For example, Emotional Heft, Inspiration, or Rooted In Culture are drivers that would apply to shows and films across genres. You can read more about content testing tools in our three-part explainer (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3).

This approach has served us well across theatrical and streaming content, because it focuses on why audiences respond to stories, not just what those stories are. However, as our testing universe has expanded, we have seen a particular fiction genre that operates with audience expectations so distinct, and so codified, that applying a generic driver framework limits our ability to decode their true performance. This genre is Horror.

Viewing motivations and experiences of the horror genre are uniquely specific, from the type of fear it evokes, to the rhythm of tension and release, to the viewer’s threshold for shock, supernatural elements, and atmosphere. Unlike most genres, horror's success depends heavily on precision: the wrong tonal cue or scare design can dramatically alter audience reception.

Over the last few years, our data across both theatrical and streaming properties has shown clear, consistent patterns in how audiences evaluate horror differently from other genres. Applying conventional fiction drivers to the horror genre hasn’t yielded the best outcomes. This made a strong case for genre-specific drivers that reflect the psychology of horror viewing more accurately. Our updated framework embraces this specificity, so creators and platforms have sharper, more actionable insights when they test a horror series or films.

Eight drivers of the horror genre have been identified, using our extensive category over the last few years, as listed below.

For definitions, keywords, and examples of these drivers, download this reckoner.

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