The TV market offers a wide range of show genres, available on various streaming platforms and TV channels. With so many options available, it’s nice to wonder how this is reflected on different markets influenced by separate cultures.

In this article, we take a look into three of the biggest markets – the U.S, the U.K, and Brazil – highlighting the genre differences among the top shows in each country and what platforms they’re available on, from January 13th to Febuary 13th.

United States

Starting with the U.S, the biggest market of all is, in many ways, a baseline for what will be popular in other markets.

The top show in the U.S for the period was Nickelodeon’s classic children’s animation Spongebob SquarePants. The show recorded 65x the demand average in that time.

Netflix’s Cobra Kai, with 71.2x the demand average in the period. It peaked at 49.8x the demand average on January 9th, nine days after the airing of its latest season.

Another Netflix original show that made it to the top ten was The Witcher, with 41.7x the demand average. It peaked at 73.6x on January 10th, three weeks after the second season of the show aired.

The second most in-demand show for the period was  The series is consistently among the most popular shows in the U.S and, in the last 30 days, it accumulated 67.6x the demand average.

Also present in the list are HBO’s Euphoria and Game Of Thrones. The second season of HBO’s hit teen show is currently airing. The series has garnered 55.3x the demand average for the period and peaked at 67.6x the demand average on January 31st.

In tandem, Game of Thrones was wrapped back in 2019 but has consistently remained among the most popular shows in the U.S. It received 42.6x the demand average for the period.

NBC’s Saturday Night Live is the fifth most popular show for the period. It gathered 53.4x the demand average. Meanwhile, Comedy Central’s South Park garnered 53.8x the demand average for the period.

NHK’s Attack On Titan was the only anime to make it to the list. The show recorded 53.8x the demand average for the period and peaked at 63x on February 2nd.

Finally, wrapping up the most popular shows in the U.S, we have two Disney+ original shows: The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian. The Star Wars spin-off show received 43.3x the demand average for the period, while The Mandalorian had 44x the demand average.

The United Kingdom

A standout on the list is BBC One’s Doctor Who, a series that is not present among the most popular shows in the U.S. The show is on the thirteenth season of its latest iteration and recorded 29.6x the demand average for the period. The performance is evidence of the reach and value of national media in the U.K.

The Walking Dead, AMC’s long-standing popular show, made it to the list in the country as its eleventh and final season currently airs. It recorded 22.9x the demand average for the period, becoming the 10th most popular show for the period. In tandem, the show’s contemporaneous hit series Game of Thrones registered 25x the demand average for the period. 

Interestingly, The Walking Dead just barely pushed out the American program WWE Monday Night Raw from the list. The sports program performed better in the U.K than in its home country. It garnered 23x the demand average for the period, with a peak of 23.7x the average.

When looking into the demand for combat sports talent, we find that WWE fighters such as Tyson Fury and John Cena comfortably top the list in the region. Both athletes generated outstanding demand: Fury recorded 20.1x the demand average, while Cena had 7.7x the demand.

The TV series market in the U.K has generally followed U.S trends, with some mild differences. For instance, Nickelodeon’s Spongebob SquarePants is not among the most popular shows in the country.

Instead, the leading show in the country is Disney+ The Book of Boba Fett, which also performed well in the U.S. In the U.K, the show has garnered 36x the demand average.

Brazil

Brazil is among the biggest markets in the world and it demonstrates some unexpected preferences, despite sharing similar demands to the U.S.

Anime as a genre generated outstanding interest in the period. Attack on Titan accumulated 29.2x the average and Jujutsu Kaisen had 25.3x the demand average. Naruto, a genre classic, performed even better, generating 25.9x the demand average for the period. All shows are available on Netflix in the country.

ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy is another surprising addition. The show was recently renewed for a nineteenth season, after its eighteenth installment finished airing in December 2021. The series recorded 21.2x the demand average during the period.

In Brazil, Grey’s Anatomy is available on the GloboPlay platform, owned by Brazil biggest broadcasting company. The show has been the second most popular show on the platform in the past 60 days.

Meanwhile, streaming shows that have released a new season recently earned a lot of interest. Netflix’s Cobra Kai had 31.8x the demand average in the period, while The Witcher had 27x the average.

As we can see, the three markets share many of the same interests, especially in regards to big franchise shows. But audience trends in these countries are also influenced by national culture and media, as seen with Doctor Who in the U.K, and Grey’s Anatomy, which is available in a big national streaming platform in Brazil. 

Furthermore, a non-English speaking country like Brazil seems to be more open to language-diverse content, as three Japanese animations made it to the top shows in the country.

Overall, trends in these markets seem to be affected by a combination of national impulses and international influences.