The TV industry has been changing recently. Limited series are the most glaringly obvious example of these changes, and they represent a shift in audience expectations, viewership patterns, and the impact the rise of streaming platforms has had on network TV. The streaming model favors a more condensed season length than the traditional version formerly preferred by network TV, leading to shows produced by network TV following the example of streaming services.
Limited Series: Shorter TV Seasons
Traditionally, TV shows on network TV have lasted much longer than the shows streaming exclusive runs instead. It wasn’t that long ago when the norm for TV was to have series with longer seasons, typically ranging from 20 to 24 episodes to fit the network television schedules. This trend has shifted towards limited series in recent years, similar to how streaming series traditionally do things. Between 2018 and 2023, the average length of TV seasons on network television has fallen from nearly 15 1/2 episodes per season to approximately 10, while the average length of a streaming platform season is typically around the 9-episode mark.
Another factor worth considering is how approachable a new series is to a production team striving to attract new viewers and maintain its current base. A series that goes from start to finish in a handful of episodes feels more digestible and more accessible to dive into than a 30-season mega-series with 25 episodes per season. With the mass decline in TV viewership, maintaining the old model may have seemed like a high risk to those in charge at these studios, and hence, they searched out other options.
TV Shows and Cost Cutting
While this may be partially speculation, a cost-cutting measure is likely to cause the shorter seasons. The longer a season runs, the more time the show’s writers have to work to write the script and the more time it takes for the season to be produced before its initial run. Network TV is already losing money, so it isn’t unexpected that they would look to the length of their media to cut costs by reducing how long the staff responsible for these shows have to work and, therefore, how much they have to be paid for.
Final Thoughts
As the need to fit seasons into network TV schedules has diminished, the length of an average TV show season has followed suit, going from 20 to 24 episodes a season in 2018 and before to the point these seasons are at today, where a single season of a TV show averages about 9 or 10 episodes most of the time.
While the reasons for it can depend, a decrease in audience attention spans and viewers having less of a desire to watch as much content per season as before certainly had a part to play. Whatever the case, limited series length is far more the norm today than it was several years ago, and TV producers have reacted accordingly.
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