Streaming

TV Season Shrinkage And The Long-Term Subscriber Squeeze

Guest Writer

Mar 13, 2024 • 1 min read

The following is a selection from Brandon Katz of Parrot Analytics.

Scripted TV seasons are getting increasingly shorter, and that's going to impact how long consumers are watching programming – if it hasn't already. Data from Parrot Analytics looks at season-length trends in recent years, and how it could create a long-term bind for both streamers and networks alike.

The average number of episodes per season for U.S. scripted shows across network television and streaming has shrunk from 15.4 (network) and 11.1 (streaming) in 2018, to 10.2 (network) and 9.6 (streaming) in 2023.
If the number of episodes per season is dropping at the same time that the overall volume of scripted English-language series is shrinking – and it is – then raw consumption (hours of viewership) will also decline.
With networks reducing investment in scripted content, streaming platforms need to get out ahead of what happens when supply slows down on longer-running titles (Friends, Suits, NCIS, Grey's Anatomy, etc.).

[read the rest of Brandon Katz's post on TVREV]