There Are Now More Original Scripted Shows on Streaming Services Than On Broadcast Television

If every time you log into Netflix you’re thinking, “there sure are a lot of Netflix originals,” you’re not imagining it.

According to Data from the FX Network, there are officially now more original scripted shows available on streaming services than there are across all the broadcast networks combined.

In 2018, there were 160 original shows on services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, among other services.

In contrast, broadcast and cable networks currently had 146 original scripted shows in 2018, marking the first time streaming services have produced more original content since the trend of these services took off over the past decade.

While this is certainly big news for the streaming world, it also marks a time in television history where viewers have more options than ever when it comes to picking new shows to watch. There have never been more original shows, and with so many choices, it does appear that several critically-acclaimed shows fail to find any sort of audience amidst all of the noise.

The price of producing new and original content has never been more expensive, as there is now much more demand for top show producers to sign exclusive deals with major networks. Netflix, for example, has signed several successful show producers to exclusive multi-million dollar deals to create a library of original content for the service.

This trend has driven the price up for most content, on top of which, with how much new content has become available, total viewership numbers across shows is declining. It used to be common to be the one show that everyone was watching. But now with more content available than ever, eyeballs are being spread thin.

Such a trend could mean we are nearing peak television content, as with prices higher, and viewership lower, it will be hard for the broadening market to remain profitable.