Month: June 2024

Who’s typically watching these types of shows? 
Viewers 30+. However, while nearly all examples of this subgenre skew older, the most successful entries appeal fairly broadly across both men and women. Rather than fitting squarely within one quadrant, as many of the one-and-done series do, shows like Succession (50% male / 50% female), House of Cards (48% male / 52% female), Veep (54% male / 46% female), Industry (55% male / 45% female), The Bear (45% male / 55% female), and Billions (55% male / 45% female) land best with a relatively gender-balanced audience.

What type of viewing experience sets the most popular shows apart? 
An intense one. While this subgenre encompasses a variety of storytelling styles, from upbeat comedy to layered drama to twisted satire, the shows that stand out the most tend to offer a harsher, more unflinching look at the raw power dynamics of their respective workplaces. Nearly across the board, the overachievers draw viewers with unpleasant, blood-boiling emotions like Anger (118, House of Cards), Loathing (117, The Morning Show), Contempt (116, Empire), Aggressiveness (116, The Newsroom), Disgust (127, Silicon Valley), and Terror (137, Industry)–even the shows styled as comedies (e.g. Veep, Silicon Valley, Mythic Quest). In contrast, less successful series are more likely to lead with positive feelings such as Awe, Love, Ecstasy, and Trust.

Which common story element is most appealing? 
The cutthroat competition. In keeping with their negative emotional approach, successful power-based series tend to focus hard on the ugly, dark side of their central premise. Viewers tune in largely to see morally compromised protagonists relish in their own unique style of deception and backstabbing: the Corruption (128) of a televangelist family (The Righteous Gemstones); the Scheming (123) of an aggressive hedge fund manager (Billions); the twisted Ambition & Drive (119) of an amoral politician (House of Cards); the demented Rivalry (114) between two tech companies (Silicon Valley); the absurd Ruthlessness (121) of a presidential hopeful (Veep); the unhealthy Competitiveness (124) of a rebellious chef (The Bear). These displays of naked ambition and workplace dysfunction (Difficult Workplace, 124, Industry) largely drive ratings for the most successful entrants in this subgenre.

What are the characters typically fighting to win? 
The trappings of success. While these shows’ ambitious protagonists do compete for the intoxication of raw, naked Power (141) (Billions), many fight just as hard for adjacent desires like Money (131) (Succession), Vengeance (134) (Empire), and Social Status (143) (House of Cards). And the fact that these battles take place within a wide variety of fascinating settings–the Culinary World (120) of The Bear, the drug-based Crime Family (117) underworld of Power, the Music Industry (128) of Empire, the early morning Show Business (125) world of The Morning Show–is what makes these series so eminently bingeable.

What keeps the most successful shows running long-term?
The character relationships. Though the epic power struggles are what lure in viewers, it’s the series’ more relatable interpersonal dynamics that keep them watching season after season. For most of these standout shows, longevity is driven by compelling central relationships in which audiences want to invest–even though the characters themselves are often terrible human beings: Father-Child Relationships (111) (Succession), Mentorships (118) (The Good Fight), Parenting Problems (120) (Veep), Sibling Rivalry (134) (The Righteous Gemstones), Family Relationships (124) (Power), a Marriage of Convenience (113) (House of Cards).

Who’s been tuning in for this ripped-from-the-headlines drama? 
Older men. We’re seeing a viewership that’s mostly male (63%) and mostly older (63% aged 30+), an unsurprising skew given its NBA focus. This profile is similar to the SVOD audience for Winning Time as well as other sports-based scripted shows like Mike, Heels, and Ballers.

How important is the ‘sports’ of it all?
Absolutely crucial. For Clipped–as with Lakers drama Winning Time–the core sports genre is what’s pulling in audiences; for both series, their Sports Focus (160) is their #1 overall viewership driver. Fans want a courtside seat to the real-life goings-on of the NBA, particularly the Coach-Athlete Relationships (140) and Mentorships (141) found within each professional team.

How is Clipped different from Winning Time? 
It’s darker. Winning Time chronicles the cheer-worthy rise of a storied basketball dynasty, charting the Lakers’ ascent toward Winning (118) and Stardom (120) and, thanks to the players’ enduring renown, takes on a Celebrity Focus (125); viewers jumped on board to experience positive emotions like Admiration (124) and Awe (124). Clipped, on the other hand, in a sense tells the opposite story: a struggling team of Underdogs (148) brought even lower by a racist Scandal (124) filled with heated Confrontations (119) and Emotions Running High (118). Accordingly, audiences are tuning in expecting a much more negative viewing experience, with feelings like Fear (119), Aggressiveness (117), and Anger (117).

What happened with the leaked tape? 
It led to an important moment in sports history. The publicized recording of team owner Sterling’s racist rants in 2014 resulted in a media frenzy that brought to light a host of Racial Issues (133), not only within the Clippers organization but also the wider NBA. Clipped showcases the increasingly tense Interracial Relationships (128) between Sterling and the team’s Black players and staff, including Coach Rivers, as it explores whether Sterling’s ultimate downfall created real, lasting change. This grappling with questions around racism and racial reckoning is a core ratings driver for the show.

How is Clipped’s online chatter?  
Promising. The show maxed out our social buzz meter (at 160) with its two-episode June 4 premiere and spiked again with last week’s release of episode 3; it’s poised to follow in the footsteps of Winning Time, which saw similar renewed chatter for each weekly episode drop. For Clipped, viewers are largely talking about Donald Sterling’s repulsive Abuses of Power (133) during his reign as team owner as well as the broader racial issues his leaked tape brought to light.

Who’s been tuning in for this limited series drama? 
We’re seeing a viewership that leans female (55%) and is heavily older (77% aged 30+). This profile is somewhat more gender-balanced than the typical mystery-crime-thriller audience; while nearly all entrants in this genre do skew 30+, streaming viewers for shows like Three Pines, Shining Girls, The Killing, Mare of Easttown, Big Sky, Truth Be Told, and The Undoing tend to skew much more female (61-68%).

Why have viewers been checking it out? 
To find out what happened to Edgar. Eric’s top ratings drivers revolve around the search for the missing boy; audiences want to follow along as his parents–and the police–embark On a Mission (136) to uncover the truth (Searching for the Truth, 143) of their son’s fate. These Mystery (133) aspects parallel similar series whose key draws also depend on unraveling knotty, season-long crimes, such as Mare of Easttown (Murder Mystery, 114), Three Pines (Murder Mystery, 141), The Killing (Hidden Truth, 132), and Shining Girls (Searching for the Truth, 117).

What keeps audiences watching? 
The father’s struggle. Though pulled in by the mystery, viewers become hooked on the story of an increasingly distraught puppeteer who, spiraling on substance abuse and desperation, becomes convinced that a seven-foot-tall monster puppet named Eric will help him reunite with his son. The father’s increasingly volatile behavior (Struggling, 120), which pushes away his family (Husband-Wife Relationship, 137) and friends, as well as the 1980s NYC Setting (120) in which the story unfolds, are important drivers of the show’s bingeability.

What type of viewing experience does Eric offer? 
An Emotional Roller Coaster (136). The show shifts back and forth between the Trauma & Tragedy (129) of the present and much happier flashbacks of the family’s recent past. It is these lighter moments–along with flashes of hope during the search–that audiences find most appealing from the get-go; more positive emotions like Joy (130), Optimism (130), Awe (127), and Amazement (127) are stronger ratings draws. At the same time, the darker, more thrilling side of the story–as well as the father’s descent into near-madness–is what’s keeping audiences hooked; negative feelings like Vigilance (115), Anger (115), and Aggressiveness (114) most impact bingeability.

How has the show been faring in social buzz? 
Great. Though its trailer drop made some waves, its May 30 episode release caused a huge spike in online chatter: Eric premiered at #3 on Netflix’s top 10 shows list and has maxed out our social buzz meter (at 160) for the past two weeks. Viewers are talking about the central Family Tragedy (135) of A Missing Loved One (119) as the desperate parents search for their son.

Who’s the core audience for a successful historical saga? 
Older viewers. While a standout period drama can effectively appeal to either gender–and there are numerous examples in both camps, from the male-skewing Shōgun (62%), Peaky Blinders (65%) and Deadwood (60%) to the female-heavy Bridgerton (83%), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (68%), and The Crown (72%)–the core demo they all have in common is a viewership that’s primarily aged 30+ (63-96%). The most popular shows seem comfortable leaning heavily into this built-in older audience, whereas less successful entrants in the subgenre, in contrast, tend to aim just a little bit younger.

What’s one of the key draws of the subgenre? 
A subculture deep-dive. The most compelling historical sagas on TV share a common thread: they all excel at bringing a specific time period to life, creating vivid, fully-realized worlds that viewers can’t resist exploring. Outlander, for example, time-travels between different periods in English and Scottish history (British Culture, 121); Peaky Blinders showcases a seedy Criminal Organization (129) in 1919; Downton Abbey looks at the upstairs-downstairs divide of English High Society (160), The Crown at modern English Royalty (160), Vikings at early Norse explorers (A Subculture Up Close, 119), Mad Men at 1960s Madison Avenue (A Subculture Up Close, 123), and 1923 at early twentieth-century American History (139). For these and other hit series, viewers tune in–and keep watching–to spend time in a rich, compelling, fully-fleshed out world that they haven’t seen before, and this aspect is an important driver across all four of our key categories (ratings, bingeability, social buzz, and longevity).

What’s the main storytelling approach among the most popular shows?
A focus on family. Across the most popular historical sagas on television, one storytelling approach consistently emerges as a key to success: anchoring the narrative in the dynamics of family relationships. From a family-run crime gang (Peaky Blinders, Family Relationships, 137) to a pair of married Russian spies (The Americans, Working with Family, 159), a tight-knit Scottish clan (Outlander, Extended Family, 126) to royalty confronting succession (The Crown, Family Legacy, 152), and a chaotic New York Jewish household (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Family Disagreements, 160) to a kinship of Viking raiders (Vikings, Family Relationships, 160), the best series lean on the universality of family to keep their otherwise alien stories feeling grounded and relatable. In contrast, less successful historical sagas are more likely to feature other types of relationships (co-workers, teams, friends, wider communities) that, from the audience’s perspective, may not provide as rich a milieu to explore the norms of different eras.

Is there one specific tone that determines success? 
Not at all. The top period dramas depend on a wide range of emotional experiences to pull in viewers. Some tend toward the upbeat and positive, calling up emotions like Amazement, Joy, Optimism, Love, and Awe (e.g., Bridgerton, Call the Midwife, The Chosen); others swing negative, drawing on darker feelings like Anger, Sadness, Contempt, Loathing, and Fear (e.g., 1923, Deadwood, Peaky Blinders, Boardwalk Empire); and still others revel in covering both the highs and lows of the human experience in equal measure (e.g., Shōgun, The Crown, Downton Abbey, Hell on Wheels, Reign).