In 2024, the volume of original TV series — scripted and unscripted — dropped significantly for a second straight year. Box office is up, comedy is hard, “Star Wars” fatigue is real and “Fool Me Once” was one of Netflix’s most-watched series of the year.
Those are among the many conclusions drawn out in the 2024 Year-End Film & TV Report produced by Luminate, the data and insights firm that focuses on audience measurement for the entertainment industry. On the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” Luminate executives Mark Hoebich, executive VP and head of film and TV, and Carolyn Finger, senior VP of consumer success and products, break down the findings — and poke a little fun at each other in the way that longtime colleagues do.
The numbers tell the tale. Hollywood is dealing with a period of extended contraction when it comes to the volume of TV series commissions. It’s been a rough skid after a decade of Peak TV spending that was unsustainable in the long run.
“While we see a 7% drop in the overall number of series released, when we look at episode orders, the episode orders [also] declined significantly,” Hoebich says. “We saw almost a 20% drop year over year from prior year. And that trend has continued now two years in a row: 17% in 2023 and then almost 20% in 2024. The media companies are really being more stingy when they’re renewing series or ordering series — they’re just taking fewer episodes. And of course, that impacts our entire entertainment ecosystem, from writers, producers, directors and actors who really rely on those episodic orders.”
Moreover, the drop in comedy series is eye-opening — total volume for the U.S. and Canada is down 39% since 2019. Racy reality series such as Netflix’s dating shows have helped fill the void. So has social media, as Finger observes.
“All of those little snippets of schadenfreude you can get on short-form content I think may be some specific influence,” Finger says. “Social media is part of that fix of seeing real people misbehaving or what have you. And that is something that you can get on TikTok — for now — and Instagram and various places.”
Listen to the full podcast:
The declining fortunes of Star Wars-related series is detailed in a chart show the decline in viewership and completion rates for recent titles including “The Acolyte” and “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.” Finger noted Amazon Prime Video’s struggles with Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series. By contrast, a low-profile limited series such as “Fool Me Once” turned out to be one of Netflix’s most-watched title of the year (in part because it premiered on Jan. 1, 2024, and thus had the full year to rack up views).
“It really speaks to the importance of franchise management for these media companies,” Finger says of the Star Wars universe. “If they are spread too thin, if they’re doing too many things that are not really focused on these franchises, you can get to a place where you’re just not going to get the the same result.”
Luminate is owned by Variety parent company PMC.
Read the full Luminate 2024 Year-End Film & TV Report:
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
