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455 scripted US shows in 2016

If you thought America was churning out more titles than you have time for, you'd be right.

The so-called Golden Age of TV (and that’s a debatable term) has now hit 455 Scripted US TV shows in a single year.

The massive output rises above 421 in 2015.

Of that tally, online services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon represent 93 series, with the streaming originals category growing 1,450 percent since 2011.

“Peak TV was once again far from peaky in 2016, with a record 455 scripted original series across broadcast, cable, and streaming sources,” said Julie Piepenkotter, executive vice president research at FX Networks. “This estimate reps an 8 percent increase over just last year (421 in 2015) ― but an astonishing 71 percent increase over five years ago (266 in 2011) and 137 percent over a decade ago (192 in 2006).”

Numbers are expected to rise once again in 2017.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

6 Responses

    1. Pay cable is the likes of HBO, Showtime and Starz (so Game of Thrones, Shameless, Outlander etc) where viewers subscribe to the specific channel. Basic are channels included in a standard subscription like AMC, A&E and USA Network, and that is where there has been an explosion in the number of series with many channels moving into original drama, especially after the success of Breaking Bad and then The Waking Dead.

      1. Odd, that payment is required for both yet one in called pay and the other isn’t – I consider that to be poorly labelled.
        Had no idea certain channels are like that and others aren’t.

      2. Viewers in the USA can select their favourite shows for streaming using Apple TV etc,commercial agreements preclude such things in Australia due to our low consumer base. VPN offers a solution if you are able to use one that’s not a dodgy credit card risk, but essentially Australia still has much to improve accessing affordable entertainment.

  1. The one thing to takeaway from this is that broadcast TV output has been pretty much static for 14 years and pay cable for the last 5. The only category to increase its output this year (and substantially) was online.

  2. These days I’m watching a lot more streaming originals. I’m halfway through Startup on Amazon Prime starring Martin Freeman and Adam Brody (Seth Cohen) which is an excellent series. That and CW shows make up the bulk of my viewing

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