Drama’s dominance fades as streaming’s new star genre shines – TVREV

Audiences love drama. To be fair, who doesn’t? The umbrella genre accounts for the largest number of TV titles overall and the largest share of audience demand in the United States. However, despite its continued popularity, the drama genre is losing some momentum, opening up new opportunities for other programming areas. Tracking and understanding these trends can help guide resource investments and green light decisions about renewals and cancellations.

According to Parrot Analytics, the drama genre accounted for 49.5% of the top 100 most in-demand streaming originals domestically in the first quarter of 2022. However, by the third quarter of 2024, this share has fallen to 45.5%. Still huge, but a notable change in the programming ecosystem. This trend is reflected in comedy, the other major umbrella genre, whose share of the top 100 shows fell from 26.3% in the first quarter of 2022 to 21.2% in the third quarter of 2024. Audiences are simply looking for a broader range of genres and programming styles. The upper class is showing in recent quarters. This requires creatives and leaders to adapt accordingly so consumers don’t leave them behind.

The fantasy genre in particular has seen a resurgence thanks to a number of successful animated and live-action films such as Netflix Arcane and Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The former is one of the most successful video game adaptations in recent years, while the latter is arguably Disney+’s only live-action hit outside of Marvel or Star Wars. Shows like this increased fantasy share from 8.1% to 9.1%. Science fiction has also seen significant growth with recent releases such as Apple TV+ Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and Netflix 3 body problem increased the genre’s share from 4.0% in 2022 to 6.1% in 2024. Science fiction and fantasy are staples of genre entertainment that offer fans an escape from reality.

And now let’s go back to the drama of reality TV, which accounts for 4% of the top 100 series in the third quarter of 2024. Major streamers have launched successful spin-offs of notable linear reality programs to great effect. More specifically, Peacock’s Love Island USA and Paramount+’s RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars have successfully expanded these franchises to streaming. In 2022, reality was not one of the top 100 streaming originals.

All of these changes are consistent with public reports about Hollywood’s buying side. Expensive, prestigious dramas, especially historical pieces that are hardly commercially viable, are released in cinemas, as are sad dramas. Genre entertainment with good presentation and manageable costs is just as feasible as more traditional sitcoms and procedural series. The same goes for unwritten programming in the middle of the street.

Mixing elements from multiple genres has become increasingly common in the streaming age. An example of this is the increase in serialized processes like those at Amazon Reacher and Netflix The Lincoln Lawyerwhich take creative elements from linear television but modernize the narrative and structure. Another example is HBO/Max The penguinwhich uses the superhero genre and the hit film of 2022 The Batman as an excuse to tell a well-founded crime story. The same applies to The boyswhich combines elements of superheroes, comedies, action and fantasy.

The point is that development and programming are no longer as binary as they used to be. In the world of streaming originals, a balance of tones and style is required to meet consumer preferences. More importantly, streaming companies must continually pay attention to what types of shows are driving demand to stay ahead of rapidly changing genre trends.