Parrot Analytics Genre Trend reports reveal which genres and subgenres appealed to a market's audiences the most during the quarter.

The key questions investigated in this report include:

1. Which genres are most in-demand for American audiences this quarter?

2. How do genre trends in the USA compare to global trends for the quarter?

3. Which subgenres are most in-demand for American audiences this quarter?

4. For only digital original series, what genres are most demanded by American audiences this quarter and how is this different to the overall shares?

For all titles, which genres are American audiences demanding most?

• In the United States, drama series hold the largest share of demand between May and July 2020. 31.5% of all expressed demand is for a series in this genre. Although the largest share within the market, this is notably smaller share than the genre’s share in most markets.

• Comedy series are the second most demanded type of shows with a 15.9% share of US demand. The most in-demand comedy for this period is Adult Swim’s Rick & Morty.

• The reality and children genres are tied with a 13.4% share each.

• The share of demand for children’s content has increased by +1% from the end of 2019. This likely reflects the ongoing stay-at-home response to the COVID-19 pandemic and general school closures in these months.

How do Genre Demand Shares in the United States compare to global trends?

• Compared to the average genre demand shares worldwide, the USA has a much smaller demand share for drama series. The share for this genre is -11.4% less than the global drama share.

• US audience demand for children’s content is outpacing the rest of the world. The genre share here is +5.1% larger.

• American audiences have high demand for series in the reality genre. This is +4.0% compared to global audiences.

For all titles, which subgenres are American audiences demanding most?

• Further showing the impact of restricted movements under COVID-19 lockdowns, content for school-age children is the most demanded subgenre between May and July with 7.2% of all expressed demand.

• Relatedly, US demand for pre-school content is also high and it is the 7th most demanded subgenre. Nickelodeon/TVO Kids co-production Paw Patrol is the most demanded series in this subgenre.

• Sitcom is the second most demanded subgenre of series, with a 7.0% share of demand. WarnerMedia’s Friends is the most demanded of these series, indicating that US audiences are turning to familiar favorites during this time.

• Globally, the most demanded subgenre is crime drama. However, during this time period it is only the third most demanded series in the United States.

For digital original titles, which genres are American audiences demanding most?

• The US streaming landscape is one of the most mature in the world. This means that compared to most other markets, the digital original genre demand shares are much closer to the overall market genre demand shares.

• However, there are still differences between the digital original and overall markets in the United States. The action and adventure genre has a 15.1% digital original demand share compared to a 6.1% share overall. The most in-demand digital original action and adventure series in these three months is DC Universe’s Titans.

• The widest gap in the US is in the reality genre. Streaming services still have room to meet the US audience demand for reality series, compared to the overall market reality digital originals account for -10.1% less demand share. The most in-demand digital original reality show for these months is Netflix’s Queer Eye.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of genre trends in this market. To access more granular genre demand trends for specific platforms, types of titles, timeframes and more, please contact your Parrot Analytics representative.

For more information, check out the most up-to-date United States television industry overview.