Infographic: Content Trends on Board

Onboard content trends: what passengers watch, read and play across transport modes

Streaming, gaming and digital reading are now standard passenger behaviors across aviation, rail and maritime. The question operators face is not whether passengers want onboard content, but whether the platform they deploy matches what passengers actually consume. This report maps the key content trends across all three transport modes, drawn from Moment's operator data and market benchmarks.

Three figures frame the landscape. 86% of rail passengers watch movies onboard. 97% of passengers across transport modes access inflight entertainment platforms on their own device. Blockbuster movies are the top content choice across all sectors, regardless of route type or journey length.

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Video is the dominant format across all transport modes

Video on demand leads content consumption across aviation, rail and maritime. The format breakdown and genre preferences vary by sector and journey type, but the dominance of video is consistent. Blockbusters outperform catalog depth every time: a well-curated selection of current theatrical releases delivers more engagement than a large library of niche titles.

Press and games are strong secondary formats. Press consumption skews toward business travelers and regular commuters on high-speed rail networks. Games index higher on leisure routes and with younger passenger demographics. Audio, including music and podcasts, represents a smaller share of sessions but generates disproportionately deep engagement among the passengers who use it.

The sector-by-sector breakdown, including consumption rates by format and the genre preferences that differ most between aviation, rail and maritime passengers, is in the full report.

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BYOD is the operating standard across transport modes

97% of passengers use their own device to access onboard entertainment platforms. This is not a trend. It is the baseline from which any content strategy must be built. Seatback screens are declining as a deployment model. The content platform needs to be mobile-first, browser-compatible, and accessible without friction on any device a passenger brings onboard.

BYOD also changes the content discovery dynamic. Passengers arrive with streaming habits formed on Netflix, YouTube and Spotify. The onboard platform competes for attention against the content already on their device. Catalog quality, navigation speed and session initiation time are the variables that determine whether passengers engage or ignore the platform entirely.

For airline operators, the wireless IFE system is the infrastructure layer that makes BYOD content delivery operationally viable without seat modification or STC requirement. For rail and maritime operators, the same BYOD logic applies through a Wi-Fi portal that serves as the gateway to the content platform.

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Content strategy is a commercial decision, not an editorial one

The operators generating ancillary revenue from onboard content are the ones who treat catalog decisions as commercial decisions. Content that drives session length also drives retail conversion, advertising impressions and loyalty engagement. The platform becomes a revenue channel when the content is good enough to hold attention long enough for the commercial layer to activate.

Tailored content catalogs increase passenger satisfaction and perceived brand value. That relationship is measurable and consistent across transport modes. The operators who benchmark their catalog against actual passenger consumption data outperform those who build catalogs based on licensing availability or historical habit.

The Mood platform is built around this logic: hardware-agnostic deployment across aviation, rail and maritime, with content management tools that let operators respond to consumption data rather than commission fixed catalogs.

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Marine Gombart
Content Acquisition Manager at Moment

"To be competitive, travel operators need to stand out from the crowd with premium customer services that provide an unparalleled onboard experience. The content offered on board is a key element in creating a memorable and engaging experience."

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What operators need to act on

Three decisions determine whether an operator captures the value of onboard content or leaves it behind.

Catalog selection: blockbusters and national press are the anchor formats. They are not differentiators but their absence is immediately felt. The differentiation happens in the secondary formats: games for younger passengers, webtoons and podcasts for the growth segments, culturally relevant content for international routes.

Platform accessibility: mobile-first design, fast load times and zero-friction session initiation are the baseline. Passengers who encounter friction at the access layer do not try again. They return to the content already on their phone.

Commercial integration: content without a retail or advertising layer attached is a cost. Content with a functioning commercial layer is a revenue channel. The integration between the content platform and the ancillary revenue infrastructure determines which one an operator runs.

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This infographic report covers content consumption benchmarks across aviation, rail and maritime, format and genre breakdowns by transport mode and passenger profile, and the catalog strategy framework operators use to structure their onboard editorial decisions. Used by content managers, IFE leads and passenger experience teams across all transport sectors. Free download.