TV Series Are Fading Faster Than Your Ex’s Text Replies — What’s Killing the Golden Age of TV in 2025?
Added on January 21, 2026 inTV News Cards
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Think Peak TV hit its peak like Mercury retrograde hitting a snag in your morning commute? Well, buckle up — because the industry now finds itself snarled in what I like to call the “Downslope Days.” From a dizzying high of nearly 1,700 original shows in 2022 to just over 1,100 last year, the TV landscape has shrunk faster than Mars leaving Aries, and honey, it’s a triple dip decline across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms. With HBO Max slashing originals like a Virgo meticulously pruning a garden, while Prime Video and Disney+ try to keep the party alive, it’s clear the stars are realigning in this cat-and-mouse game of who’s delivering fresh content. And just when you thought international hits like Squid Game would fill the gap, even global imports are feeling the pinch — except for Argentina, somehow breaking the cosmic mold. So, are we witnessing a realignment or just another episodic eclipse? Grab your popcorn and your natal chart — it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. LEARN MORE
If the period from the mid-2010s to about 2022 was the Peak TV Era, the industry is currently — and firmly — in the midst of its Downslope Days.
The number of original series running on networks and streaming services in 2025 was down for the third straight year since a high in 2022. According to a year-end report from data firm Luminate, 1,122 shows premiered last year, an 11 percent drop from the 1,266 premieres in 2024. Since hitting a high of 1,695 shows in 2022, per Luminate, the TV landscape (excluding live sports and news programming) has shrunk by a third.
The declines were distributed across all platforms, with streaming, cable and broadcast series counts all falling by between 8 and 21 percent. Broadcast networks fell by the largest percentage, taking a 21 percent drop from 196 shows in 2024 to 154 last year — though the latter number is even with 2023. Luminate notes that the dual labor strikes of 2023 pushed a number of shows that would have premiered in the fall of that year into 2024, so that year’s count might be somewhat inflated.
Streaming shows — including both SVOD services and free platforms declined from 653 in 2024 to 584 last year, a dip of about 11 percent. Cable slipped by just under 8 percent from 417 shows to 384.
Among the biggest SVOD services, HBO Max had the steepest drop in originals, falling by half (32 to 16). Two streamers, Prime Video (59 shows, up from 42 in 2024) and Disney+ (14, four more than in 2024) increased their show counts, while Apple TV was even at 37. Netflix debuted 133 shows in 2025, eight fewer than a year earlier; Hulu fell off by just three shows (48 to 45); Paramount+ declined by 10 (36 to 26), and Peacock by seven (38 to 31). Free streaming services had 13 series premiere last year vs. 18 in 2024.
Shows produced outside the U.S., like Squid Game and Adolescence — to name two of the bigger streaming series of 2025 — filled some of the gap, but imports also fell off some last year compared to 2024. Of nine countries — Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Spain, France, India, the United Kingdom and South Korea — Luminate identified as providing multiple shows to streamers, only Argentina’s count increased year to year. South Korea supplied the most shows to U.S. SVOD platforms with more than 40.
Luminate is owned by The Hollywood Reporter’s parent company, Penske Media Corporation, and Eldridge as part of a joint venture.
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