Between the 2018/19 and 2021/22 seasons, there has been an interesting shift in genre commissions. Global SVOD services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus and HBO Max are all contributing to an explosion in animated TV series commissions, but with all of these services eyeing a global footprint it has had little effect on the distribution market for animation, unlike other genres.
Fantasy commissions have been sliding. Despite the launch of two high-profile fantasy shows within weeks of each other, ‘The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ and ‘House of the Dragon’, Show Tracker reveals that in general, the number of new fantasy series has dropped in the last season compared to the 2018/19 season. Many commissioners may be wise to steer clear of launching a rival fantasy series during a blockbuster season such as this, but it perhaps also shows the natural tapering off of interest in new fantasy series that followed the launch of ‘Game of Thrones’ in 2014.
Although fantasy commissions have been reducing, both of these new shows have proven to be very successful, and we may well see a boost to fantasy titles, as we are seeing in book adaptations, in future seasons from commissioners hoping to cash in on the newly revitalised buzz surrounding fantasy TV series.
The action genre has also experienced a boost as studios and global SVOD services produce more series than ever, with budgets high enough to emulate movie-like action on their screens. A costly requirement for Disney in particular, is ensuring that their myriad Marvel and Star Wars TV series project a feeling that they belong in the same universe as their movie counterparts in order to secure approval from their large, already long-established, fan bases.
The most noticeable trend, however, is the massive growth in commissions of animated scripted series in this latest season, with more new animated series for adults coming out than in the last five seasons.
SVOD services are almost the only proponents for animated commissions last season, with Comedy Central’s ‘Fairview’ the only broadcast animated series that was commissioned in the 2021/22 season.
Netflix made up almost half of the animated commissions in the 2021/22 season, with one of its most successful titles ‘Arcane’ being adapted from the video game ‘League of Legends’. The high proportion of SVODs with a global presence commissioning animated series inevitably results in the majority of international premieres appearing on those very same services.
Over half of international animated premieres over the past four seasons have occurred on global SVOD services that originally acted as their commissioner in the US. These same services have been propped up further with vertical integration - with distributors such as Disney vertically integrating shows like its Hulu commission ‘Marvel’s Hit-Monkey’ onto Disney+ internationally as a Star Original.
Finding third-party buyers for these series seems to be much tougher, especially as animated shows tend to skew towards comedy, a genre that can struggle to travel outside anglophone markets. Only one series last season was sold to a third party. The Lionsgate distributed, HBO Max Original ’Santa Inc.’ was sold to Amazon Prime in Australia, Crave in Canada and ITV2 in the UK - otherwise, the series aired on HBO Max where the service is available.
With both US studios and silicon valley operating services with a global footprint, commissioning trends such as this growth in animation no longer have a guaranteed knock-on effect on the distribution market. Much like we have seen with the latest Emmy’s winners, certain types of series are less likely than ever to be available to third-party buyers. The only difference in the case of animation is that those third-party buyers aren’t exhibiting a huge demand for the limited animated series being made available.
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