Whip Media: The TV genres gaining momentum
December 21, 2022
Which TV genres have gained (and lost) the most steam in recent years? Whip Media, a provider of consumer viewership data and engagement insights for movies and TV to the world’s largest entertainment organisations, took a close look at this very question.
Sport-themed TV shows have easily seen the most growth, with there being an 80 per cent spike in sports series since 2019, according to Whip Media’s data.
“The growth in the sports genre is likely attributed to the popularity of sports-focused series like Ted Lasso and Cobra Kai (pictured), along with multiple sports-focused docu-series around famous athletes and teams including The Last Dance and Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” explained Jeni Hatfield Benhain, senior director of client solutions at Whip Media.
‘Western’ followed ‘Sport’ as the genre that’s seen the biggest surge in popularity, with there being a 56 per cent increase in western-themed shows in the past few years. Of course, there have been some prominent entries on this front, with Paramount’s Yellowstone helping to usher in a new era for western shows. That includes a number of Yellowstone spinoff series, including 1883, which includes western veteran Sam Elliott among its cast.
Other examples include the BBC/Prime Video series The English starring Emily Blunt, and Walker, which is The CW’s reboot of the classic ‘90s series starring Chuck Norris.
Interestingly, ‘Game Show’ was the genre that made the third biggest gains since 2019, followed by ‘War’ and ‘Mini-Series’ in the fourth and fifth spots.
“Mini-series rose in popularity across all the major SVoD players as there were many successful mini-series including Inventing Anna, Maid, White Lotus, Mare of Easttown and The Dropout, to name a few,” Benhain added.
Meanwhile, Suspense was the genre that’s seen the biggest drop in popularity with a 24 per cent dip since 2019. Check out the full chart below to see the other four genres that have suffered dips in the past few years.
And something to keep an eye out for in 2023 and the years ahead: how well video game-based content performs. The Last of Us, which is set to hit HBO Max in January, is the most anticipated series of 2023, according to Whip Media’s viewer data. If The Last of Us resonates with fans as well as The Witcher did for Netflix, that’s a genre that could see big gains in the next few years.
