With the exception of the pandemic year 2020, the number of US series has increased every year for the past two decades – to around 600 in 2022. But now the series bubble seems to have burst.
Far too many series – no one can watch it all: A whopping 599 continuing and new English-language series were released in the US in 2022 — 40 more than the year before, according to the annual tally by FX Research television researchers released Jan. 12 from the house of Walt Disney, which records the screenplay series (“Original Scripted Series”) at cable stations, radio stations and streaming services in the USA.
However, in view of the record, FX boss John Landgraf said production of fictional series had slowed down in the second half of 2022, industry publications such as “Variety” and “Hollywood Reporter” reported. This could mean that the peak of the series hype has been reached, the peak exceeded. In short: it’s all downhill from now on. “The golden age of streaming is suddenly fading,” said the New York Times back in December.
Number of series more than doubled since 2012
In the United States, people are talking about the fat years of television (aka “peak TV”). The total number of series has more than doubled since 2012, according to FX Research. At that time there were 288, only 15 of them from streaming services. Their boom really started in 2013 with the Netflix hit “House of Cards”.
“Peak TV” usually means the last eight years (each with more than 400 series), even if of course some TV stations have broadcast pioneering series such as “Breaking Bad” (AMC) or “Game of Thrones” (HBO) before that. radiated. The last eight to ten years have been characterized by a large number of so-called high-end series, i.e. high-quality, novel, globally successful productions that have shaped entertainment culture worldwide.
Netflix as the tone setter
Netflix set the tone in all of this (according to its own statements, “with 223 million paying members in over 190 countries, it is the largest streaming entertainment service in the world”). Since the advent of Disney+, Apple TV+ and other providers, US media experts have liked to talk martially of a “streaming war” that is currently raging.
In this battle, the abrupt end of “1899” caused a stir these days. The Netflix series about a mysterious immigrant ship by the “Dark” makers Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar from Germany was actually designed for three seasons. Now, however, many questions will remain unanswered in the series – after just one season. Netflix shows a new hardness: What is not successful enough will be discontinued. With “1899”, which was filmed in Potsdam-Babelsberg, among other things, the most expensive German series production to date, Netflix’s expectations of retrieval were particularly high because of the high costs of computer technology.
Netflix is more focused on profitability
What exactly Netflix – but also Amazon Prime Video or Paramount + and the others – consider each to be a “success” is unclear. The only thing that is clear is that Netflix, for example, collects a lot of data internally about the use of its content – such as how many people watch a series in full or where they get off. Until 2022, the growth in subscription numbers seemed to be the most important thing for Netflix. Now more attention is paid to profitability. In order to earn money, action is taken against the multiple use of customer accounts (password sharing) or a subscription model with advertising is introduced, although for years it was precisely the difference to linear TV that it was free of advertising.
Screenwriting professor Timo Gößler from the Film University Babelsberg says that after the boom years, there is a clear reluctance among the big players, especially when it comes to financially expensive projects or very daring ideas. “It doesn’t really come as a surprise – it was clear to everyone that this wouldn’t go on forever.”
The exciting question now is what the TV industry, which has changed enormously in just a few years, makes of it. “The industry must now do everything it can to continue on the path of diversity in series, genres, characters, ambitious approaches and exciting new voices and perspectives, which only came about as a result of the boom.”
It’s about a new awareness of quality in storytelling, says specialist Gößler (“The German Room – The US Writers’ Room in German series development”). “It may be naïve, but my hope is that with the less that will be made now, quality will prevail.” He also sees an opportunity for public service providers, says Gößler. Their financial situation is – still – much more independent of the economic situation of the global market than that of the private sector players.
“WWD” speaks of the end of “Netflixization”
The trend and fashion magazine “WWD” already predicted the year 2023: “This year could mark the end of the Netflixization of what we used to call television.” Wall Street is no longer under the spell of a potential streaming gold rush, inflation and recession are looming, the media industry will have to live with it.
According to “WWD”, that’s not really a bad thing, because there was an irrational exuberance among the content providers because they were flooded with subscription money. The digital maw has been fed with a lot of stuff. “Large development contracts rained down on reliable achievers (Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy) but also on people who had never seen a development meeting from the inside (the Obamas, Harry and Meghan).”
The “Los Angeles Times” also reminds that the overproduction has also caused a certain “untraceability”: “Much of what is produced is lost in the boundless space of the constantly rotating carousels of the streaming services.”
Source: Stern
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