In its new annual report, Teleformat reveals the countries, genres and platforms that led the TV industry last year. The US leads in entertainment, while China led in fiction.
Another year of changes and ups and downs has ended for the television industry, which continues to evolve hand in hand with streaming and changing the rules of the game in terms of the production of original content.
According to the latest annual report from Teleformat, in 2024 more than 2,700 non-fiction premieres were recorded worldwide. In this sense, the United States stands out as the leader with 421 productions. It is followed by the United Kingdom with 347 and Germany with 224. Meanwhile, countries such as Spain (174) and South Korea (154) demonstrated high levels of production, showing a wide diversity in entertainment.
Television offered a wide range of non-fiction titles with a total of 910 docuseries and 833 reality shows leading the production. Game shows also had a major role with 385 premieres, followed by magazines (138) and talk shows (125).
The true crime subgenre led with 225 productions, followed by cooking and gastronomy with 178 and sports topics with 165. Also notable were content on lifestyle tourism and travel (143) and relationship programs (100), as well as economics and business (90), reflecting a balance between entertainment and information.
In 2024, 73.8% of the premieres were broadcast on linear television, while digital platforms accounted for 26.2%. These data show the importance of entertainment for platforms as complementary alternatives.
In 2024, Netflix led the top 10 non-fiction releases with 96 titles, followed by Prime Video with 75. Among the linear channels, the British Channel 4 stood out with 65 and Channel 5 with 64. MAX (50), Arte (44) and ITV1 (43) also played a leading role, showing a solid presence both on digital platforms and on traditional television.
On the fiction side, more than 2,500 releases were recorded, where the most prolific country in number of releases in 2024 is China, with 364. It is followed by Russia (190), the United States (182), Japan (179) and Thailand (154). Asia therefore demonstrates its great weight this season in terms of series production.
In Europe, the United Kingdom stands out with 94 new fictions. In Latin America, Mexico is the country with the highest number of premieres: 47.
In 2024, as usual, Drama is the genre with the highest number of premieres in the world: 1,378. Comedy (422) and dramedy (258) follow closely behind. Animation and Miniseries are practically tied, and serials and soap operas reach a total of 127 titles released. Anthologies and sitcoms have little representation.
Last year, 2024, the Love/Romance subgenre led the distribution of premieres, followed by Suspense (335), Family (241) and Human Relations (240). Action/Adventure and Police/Detectives would be next in the ranking. A little further behind, Fantasy/Science Fiction.
There is a fairly even split between linear TV premieres and SVOD/VOD platforms in the world: just over half (55.6%) of fiction debuts occurred on linear channels, while 44.4% of premieres took place on streaming.
Last year, Netflix was the platform that stood out above the rest in number of premieres: 158 new series. It is followed by the Chinese Tencent Video with 129. Somewhat behind are Prime Video, with 83, and the Chinese iQIYI with 80. As far as linear channels are concerned, Malaysia’s TV3 (29) is the only channel that enters the ranking.
