The consulting firm published its report on the main trends in TV fiction for the first half of 2025, highlighting the growing presence of different markets as IP generators, adaptations, co-productions, and innovative formats.
With the first half of the year already behind us, Teleformat published its classic report on the main trends in TV fiction for the first six months of 2025, a period in which the international market gained significant importance through adaptations, co-productions, and local hits for OTT platforms.
In terms of original production, the report highlights a clear trend toward the internationalization of production, with a greater presence of series originating in Europe and Latin America, especially on Netflix and Disney+. For their part, Prime Video and Max are adjusting their regional strategies: Prime Video is moving away from Europe, while Max is focusing on it. Apple TV+ maintains a conservative stance, with no territorial expansion in terms of the origin of its series.
By country, however, the US strongly leads the global fiction market with 137 premieres in the first half of 2025, 47% more than in 2024, consolidating its international dominance. Russia and Japan strengthen their position in the Top 3, while Europe consolidates its prominence with four countries in the ranking. Mexico remains the only Latin American country in the Top, with 24 premieres in the first half of 2025.
Of these productions, the most popular genres continue to be drama series, followed by comedy series, miniseries, dramedy, and animation.
The US clearly leads the export of original fiction ideas in the first half of 2025, with 16 titles distributed to other markets. South Korea and Spain (6) and the United Kingdom (5) complete the podium, confirming its global influence. On the other hand, Mexico leads the ranking of countries with the most fiction adaptations in the first half of 2025, with 10 titles, followed by Colombia (7).
The most adapted title in the first half of the year is Netflix’s Spanish film Machos Alfa, which leads the international adaptation ranking, with three new local versions in France, the Netherlands, and Italy. No other title reaches this level: Ghosts (UK, BBC One) adds two new markets. The remaining 36 adapted titles have only been adapted once in this period.
The report also highlights the consolidation of the trend toward producing fiction series through international co-productions, a key strategy for platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and others seeking to diversify content and expand their global reach. These alliances allow for the combination of talent and resources from different countries, resulting in ambitious titles with a multicultural focus, primarily in genres such as drama and thriller, although with a growing openness to new narrative proposals. Particularly noteworthy are European collaborations -such as Anaon (France–Germany), Favàritx (Spain–Portugal), and Il Gattopardo (Italy–United Kingdom)- along with intercontinental co-productions such as Owambo (Finland–Namibia) and Yo no soy Mendoza (Colombia–Mexico). These projects reflect an interest in expanding cultural perspectives and offering more diverse narratives, aligned with globally connected audiences and with platforms that already act as transnational co-producers.
Regarding trends for the first half of 2025, Teleformat highlights the rise of vertical format series, listing several examples of initiatives in this regard by companies such as SDO Entertainment, Kwai Brasil, Televisa, Caracol, We Latam, Shortly, and ReelShort.
Other notable trends include the popularity of crime series, with original approaches, unconventional characters, and genre blends; The portrayal of people with disabilities or mental illnesses as active agents in their stories, leaving behind the passive or victimizing role; fictions set in war contexts; fictions that dismantle the ideal family; and finally, a boom in the blending of sports with more traditional fiction genres such as romance or family, in addition to beginning to expand into the popular vertical format.
