Image: Narcos, Netflix
With MIPCOM underway, we here at Parrot Analytics thought it would be interesting to see what the most popular shows are right now in some of the major MIPCOM buyers markets. We can find this out by looking at the Average Demand Expressions™ for each market for both Digital Original Shows and Overall Shows for the month of September.
In today’s blog, we’ll be taking a look at another major MIPCOM Market, Germany.
Looking at the Top Ten Digital Original shows, as per our television it’s immediately obvious that the tale of drug lord Pablo Escobar has captivated German audiences. In the Digital Originals list, as per our television analytics demand measurement, Germany is the only country that prefers Narcos to Stranger Things. It’s not a close run thing, either: Narcos has a huge 39% lead, the biggest gap between the Digital Original first and second of any country.
Some commentators on the Netflix show have noted how Escobar’s story can easily be called “a real-life soap opera” and that would certainly go some way to explain Narcos’ popularity in Germany. German audiences have an unparalleled appetite for U.S. serial dramas; long-running shows The Bold And The Beautiful and The Young and the Restless appear exclusively on the German Overall Top Ten and, additionally, are the only serial dramas to appear on any Top Ten lists. It is unsurprising that these particular shows appear as a pair as there are frequent crossovers between the two.
Another set of shows that famously also utilize this technique are the Marvel family of superhero series. Just like the pair of serial dramas in the Overall Top Ten, there are two Marvel shows in the Digital Original Top Ten; Daredevil and Jessica Jones at sixth and ninth respectively. These shows are likely benefiting from yet a third interconnected show as superhero fans are revisiting them ahead of the end-of-month release of new Marvel series Luke Cage.
Many other countries enjoy mystery thriller Pretty Little Liars, but none so much as Germany, as our television analytics measurement data shows: The drama is the top Overall show in the country, beating even Game Of Thrones into second place with 13% more demand. The first half of the seventh and final Season of the show was released in English throughout August and although the German dub is not yet out, fans of the show in the country are clearly still enthused by the German release of Season 6 earlier in the year, helped by frequent reruns of the show’s older seasons by German broadcast stations.
A final observation on the Digital Original Top Ten is the high position of political drama House Of Cards. Although House Of Cards enjoys significant popularity worldwide, the release of the German translation of Season 4 on DVD & BluRay on September 8th boosted interest in the show in Germany. As such, it takes third place in the list from prison drama Orange Is The New Black, which is the highest position House Of Cards achieves across all the countries examined.
Another show unique to Germany is crime drama Blindspot, which is tenth in their Overall Top Ten. It seems that UK audiences don’t have a monopoly on enjoying this genre. To wrap up the unique shows, while German audiences certainly enjoy weighty dramas and dark storylines they make room for comedy too! Global sitcom hit The Big Bang Theory’s only appearance in any list is at number 7 in the German Overall Top Ten while similarly Netflix comedy Transparent only appearance for any country is at number 10 in the German Digital Originals.
Content buyers can use this type of analysis on audience demand to acquire the type of content that will be most popular in their market, while content sellers can target their content towards trends in that market. Though many markets share common trends, the differences can reveal new opportunities that both parties can use to make data-driven decisions.
Stay tuned as we cover the most in-demand content in other global territories this week in our special MIPCOM reports!
