TV Audiences Are Watching Less Drama, More Fantasy | Chart

Drama remains the dominant television genre, both in terms of the number of available titles and overall popularity. This trend holds true in the streaming landscape as well, where drama shows continue to be the most in-demand genre in the U.S. However, this dominance has shown signs of waning in recent years, as audiences begin to explore a wider range of genres.

In the first quarter of 2022, drama shows accounted for nearly half of the Top 100 most in-demand streaming originals in the U.S., according to Parrot Analytics’ Content Panorama genre system, which categorizes each title by its best-fitting genre. By the third quarter of 2024 (with data available through mid-September), this share had declined to 45.5%.

Comedy has experienced a similar trend. In the first quarter of 2022, comedies made up 26.3% of the Top 100 shows, but this share has dropped to 21.2% in Q3 of 2024. Together, drama and comedy represented over three-quarters of the Top 100 shows in early 2022. Today, that figure has decreased to roughly two-thirds.

As viewers shift their attention away from the traditional genres that have long dominated TV and streaming, which genres are gaining traction? Over this same period, fantasy has seen growth, increasing from 8.1% to 9.1%, fueled by the success of shows like Netflix’s “Arcane” and “The Dragon Prince,” and Disney+’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”

Science fiction has also experienced significant growth, rising from 4% in 2022 to 6% in 2024. This increase has been driven by the popularity of recent releases such as Apple TV+’s “Dark Matter,” “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” and Netflix’s “3 Body Problem.”

Perhaps the most surprising growth has come from reality TV. With virtually no titles among the top in-demand shows in the first quarter of of 2023, reality shows now account for 4% of the Top 100 in Q3 of 2024. Streaming platforms have capitalized on this by releasing on-platform new seasons of popular network reality shows, attracting a loyal and engaged audience. Notable examples include Peacock’s “Love Island USA” and Paramount+’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” two of the most popular reality shows in the U.S. market.

This reflects a broader trend in the entertainment industry, where more content is blending elements from multiple genres. Rather than sticking to pure genre conventions, creators are increasingly mixing different genres to appeal to a wider audience. This shift is especially noticeable in the declining number of pure comedies , as more shows incorporate comedic elements into genres like superhero, action, and fantasy.

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