Streaming Viewership Data Shows Steep Drop-Off After Top Originals

What limited data was available on streaming viewership has long suggested the majority of original series on SVOD platforms go largely unwatched. But a new window into that viewership confirms just how vast the gap is between the top hit series and the rest of the field.

As series output soared to historic heights in 2022, with nearly 1,000 original titles released on the major SVOD platforms — as discussed in the VIP+ special report “The Death of Peak TV” — viewership on most services was concentrated among fewer than two dozen shows.

Data from Luminate’s new streaming viewership product shows the top 20 most-watched TV seasons accounted for the vast majority of original series viewership on almost all of the major U.S.-based SVOD platforms in 2022. Indeed, among these services, only Netflix had TV seasons beyond the top 20 collectively approach half of original shows’ viewing time in the U.S.

The drop-off between the top performing shows and the remainder is, if anything, even more striking. On Disney+, which released 50 original series in 2022 (not counting kids content), the 10 most watched seasons captured nearly 80% of original series viewing time; the next 10, just over 16%.

Seasons outside the top 20, meanwhile, accounted for only about 5% of viewing time, the second-lowest proportion among the major SVODs after NBCUniversal’s Peacock, where they accounted for 3%.

This is yet another indication that media companies grossly overspent on original content during the peak TV era. The sheer volume of series produced to lure subscribers increasingly looks, in hindsight, like a poorly considered strategy undertaken merely in an attempt to emulate Netflix — which only produced so many shows because it had to build its own proprietary library from scratch.

Comparing viewership against 2023, the year TV output finally dropped, only underscores this point. Every platform saw a significant uptick in the proportion of viewership going to seasons outside the top 20, indicating that, with fewer new titles to watch, consumers split their viewing time more evenly between series, including previously released original seasons.

This data also indicates that most streaming originals do not have the rewatch value offered by many older series. Whereas beloved library shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy” reliably chart among the most-watched titles on streaming week after week, year after year, new originals are hard-pressed to keep viewers coming back.

Looking again at Disney+, only two of the top 10 original seasons in 2022 reappeared among the top 10 the next year: “The Mandalorian” Season 2 and limited series “Andor,” both “Star Wars” properties. (The former actually saw its share of viewing time rise year over year, likely bolstered by the third season’s premiere.)

In light of this, it should be evident that the end of peak TV could actually be a boon for streaming’s legacy media players.

Having sunk billions into original content with lackluster results — no SVOD has come anywhere close to matching Netflix’s subscriber tally — these companies need to face the fact that a more moderated and considered content strategy could end up yielding similar rewards at a much lower cost. Should this put the industry on a path to renewed health, the death of peak TV could ultimately mean new life for Hollywood.