No, you’re not the only one who can’t seem to clean out their DVR.
New numbers from the Associated Press show that there were 352 original scripted series aired on broadcast, cable, and streaming services in 2014.
Even more astonishing might be the growth of original scripted programming in cable prime-time and late night, which shot up 26 shows in 1999 to 199 in 2014—a 665 percent jump.
Add in the 24 series on offer from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon last year, and it’s clear why FX boss John Landgraf told the TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena last month that “the amount of competition is just literally insane.”
Landgraf suggested the new landscape means word-of-mouth may trump traditional marketing when it comes to luring new viewers.
“Now, why should you pay attention to television marketing?” he said. “Because there are too many shows. Most of them aren’t very good. The good ones are going to survive and you’ll know about them eventually. By the time you know about them, you can just go back really easily and catch up. You can save time by just being Darwinian about it. Say ‘I’m not going to pay attention to television, I’ll just wait for the fittest to survive.’”
The upside to this ever-growing TV buffet is that TV executives have started to understand that the old playbook no longer applies when it comes to which series will survive and which ones get the axe. These days, according to the AP, they find it hard to determine whether low numbers mean the show is a dud, or viewers are just haven’t found time to see it.
Read More: The AP via USNews.com
Brief Take: A saturated marketplace means viewers are too overwhelmed to pay attention to traditional campaigns. Word-of-mouth may be more effective. Networks increasingly need to harness social media, influencers, and peer groups to get viewers to sample their series.
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