The annual ‘Conquering Content’ report is based on a survey in October of 1,600 U.S. consumers with broadband, aged 16-74, who watch at least one hour of TV per week. Nearly two thirds of viewers said their current favourite show is an older show that has been on for several seasons – with this figure up from 54% in 2021.

One of the most mentioned favourites was ‘Suits’. This show was cancelled in 2019 and has not had a new episode in four years.

“While the pipeline for new shows has slowed due to this year’s historic Hollywood strikes, consumers' loyalties to streaming services can remain stable, provided those services match them with the right content,” says Jason Platt Zolov, one of the report’s authors. “As studios return to licensing quality shows outside of their owned services, consumers are responding positively to the abundance of things to watch, whether ‘new’ or just ‘new to them.’”

The October survey picked up sentiment before the full impact of the Hollywood writer strikes. As you can see from the chart (courtesy of Hub), consumers were asked which of the following statements best describes the favourite show they have started watching. 64% said 'Older show/been on several seasons' and 36% said 'New show/first season in past year’. In 2021 the figures were 54% for older shows and 46% for new shows.

Jon Giegengack, Founder and Principal at Hub (Hub Entertainment Research) adds: “Peak TV has created a huge number of quality shows that many people just didn’t have time to watch when they were new. But they’re happy to watch them, and this backlog will maintain engagement while production gets back under way.

“This [consumer sentiment] also bodes well for licensing of exclusive shows to new services with audiences that haven’t seen them yet.”

Graph: Conquering Content 2023 report from Hub (Hub Entertainment Research).