The End of Peak TV: 516 Original Scripted Series Aired in 2023, a 14% Dip, FX’s John Landgraf Says

variety.com:

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Peak TV has finally peaked. At FX‘s portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour on Friday, chairman John Landgraf revealed his research team’s annual tally of adult original scripted series across U.S.

broadcast, cable and streaming services. That number dropped to 516 in 2023, down 14% from a record 600 in 2022 — the most significant dip ever since FX started its tally more than two decades ago. “The dual strikes undoubtedly played a role in this industry shift,” Landgraf acknowledged.

But he went on to point out the new business realities of this maturing streaming age, as outlets temper their output. “The drawdown of production was likely underway even before the strike shuttered all production,” he continued. “The realignment of industry priorities from streaming scale at any cost to profitability continued after the strikes, leading to the cancellation of numerous projects.” RELATED: Peak TV Has Peaked: From Exhausted Talent to Massive Losses, the Writers Strike Magnifies an Industry in Freefall An end to Peak TV is something that Landgraf had been predicting for some time.

In January 2016 he told reporters “this year or next year will be peak TV… I think there will be more in 2016 than 2015, but still think there’s a reasonable prospect for fewer in 2017 than 2016.” Landgraf later admitted that he hadn’t foreseen the sheer volume that would come with the streaming media explosion, which changed that prediction.