IN THIS . REPORT
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Luminate’s 2025 Year-End Film & TV Report serves as a foundational piece of entertainment intelligence designed to guide industry partners through a landscape that is simultaneously maturing and fragmenting.
Much like the seismic shifts we observed in the music sector with our 2025 Year-End Music Report, the past 12 months in film and television have been defined by a decided pivot away from the era of growth at all costs toward a more intentional, data-driven approach to global fandom. As the streaming wars transition into a battle for retention and margin, the data contained within this report serves as a roadmap for an industry finding its footing in a new stabilized reality.
For years, the industry operated under the assumption that volume was the primary driver of value. In 2025,that narrative was officially retired. The sector is now operating in a post-peak environment, where the focus has shifted from the sheer quantity of hours produced to the quality and reliability of engagement.
The Great Leveling: A New Streaming Hierarchy The most significant headline of 2025 was the definitive leveling of the streaming playing field. For nearly a decade, the landscape was viewed as Netflix and everyone else. However, this past year, the dominance of the market leader began to narrow in favor of a more balanced ecosystem.
For the first time in the history of Luminate tracking, the most-watched streaming original TV season of the year did not originate from Netflix. Instead, Peacock’s Love Island USA took the top spot, growing its viewership by a staggering 150% year over year. This was a watershed moment for the industry, marking the first time an unscripted streaming original led the annual rankings. And the achievement proves that even in a highly saturated market, established franchises can find explosive new growth through strategic platform migration and aggressive social integration.
While Netflix continues to be a formidable powerhouse, occupying six of the top 10 slots in the overall rankings, its share of original content viewing in the U.S. dropped below 60% for the first time. Competitors like HBO Max, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video have successfully scaled their content offerings to a level previously reserved for the market leader. The industry is no longer looking at a monopoly of attention.
The Production Exodus and the Rise of the Procedural While original content consumption took a healthy 15% year-over-year leap, with U.S. hours viewed rising from about 22 billion in 2024 to 25 billion in 2025, production’s where and what underwent a radical transformation.
The industry is currently witnessing a production exodus. Los Angeles, the historical heart of the business, continues to see a decline in live-action production, now down more than 50% from its historical peaks. As studios seek tax incentives and lower overhead, the production map is being redrawn across overseas locations. This geographical shift is occurring alongside a 11% overall drop in production volume, as the industry corrects the oversupply of the early 2020s.
In tandem with these shifts, 2025 saw the decline of the prestige drama. After a decade of chasing expensive, limited series awards contenders, studios have shifted their spending toward reliable engagement models. This is best exemplified by the success of high-volume procedurals such as The Pitt. These series offer broader appeal and significantly lower per-episode production costs, providing the comfort viewing that drives long-term subscriber retention. The industry is trading the watercooler moment for the nightly habit.
The Transmedia Ecosystem: Fandom Without Borders Luminate’s mission is to redefine how the industry understands viewership. Measuring minutes watched is no longer sufficient; the goal is now mapping the transmedia landscape. Discovery in 2025 is no longer a linear path, and the transmedia hit has emerged as the dominant force, where success in one medium directly fuels another.
The cross-platform success of KPop Demon Hunters serves as the primary case study for this phenomenon, as the film was both a cinematic and musical event. The soundtrack sustained over 10 million daily streams domestically for weeks, creating a feedback loop that kept the film in the cultural conversation long after its initial release window. Similarly, theatrical hits including Wicked and Moana 2 demonstrated that the word-of-mouth success observed in cinemas remains the single most powerful driver for streaming viewership months later. In 2025, a hit is no longer a siloed event — it is an ecosystem.
The AI Reckoning: Sentiment vs. Reality No discussion of the future of film and TV is complete without addressing the AI reckoning. Throughout 2025, Luminate monitored the disruptive role of generative AI in content creation and consumer sentiment toward it. The data provides a nuanced look at this tension. While 41% of consumers express reluctance or outright discomfort regarding content written by AI, there is a measurable pocket of AI curiosity. Approximately 25% of U.S. consumers aware of the tech say they’d be interested in seeing a movie or TV show penned with the help of gen AI.
Notably, research found that the level of fan passion for a franchise correlates with AI acceptance. While casual viewers may be skeptical, those most deeply invested in specific genres show a surprising willingness to engage with AI-supplemented content, provided it expands the lore of the worlds they love. The challenge for studios as we move through this year will not just be the technical implementation of AI but the process of granting technology cultural permission while protecting the inherent value of human creativity.
A Roadmap for 2026
Among the many topics touched on in this report, here are five that will help stakeholders steer through the complexity of the coming year:
Streaming Vital Stats: An exhaustive dive into original series engagement and the narrowing gap between major platforms
The Production Exodus: A data-heavy analysis of the geographical shifts in filming and the 31% drop-off in unscripted production volume
Transmedia Integration: Deep insights into how music, gaming and film interrelate to create the megahits of the future
International Power Rankings: Highlighting the rise of South Korea as the leading source of international series imports
The AI Reckoning: A psychographic breakdown of consumer sentiment regarding digital replication and synthetic storytelling
As the industry looks forward, the path to success requires a deep, data-backed understanding of how film and television interact with music, technology and regional cultures. The industry is no longer changing — it has changed. These insights are intended to provide the clarity and confidence required to navigate this transformative era.
Rob Jonas
CEO, Luminate
Luminate is the entertainment industry’s most trusted data partner, delivering the most essential, objective and trustworthy insights to drive businesses forward across music, film and television. Operating at the intersection of technology and creativity, Luminate manages 30 trillion data points from hundreds of verified sources and is globally recognized for its AI achievements. The company’s products and expert consultative services offer unparalleled cultural significance, consistently fueling Billboard’s authoritative music charts for over 30 years, driving Variety’s Streaming Originals charts and acting as an official data source for the Golden Globes. Luminate is an independently operated company, a subsidiary of PME TopCo., a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge.
Love Island emerged as the first unscripted and non-Netflix streaming original to top the yearly rankings.
For the first time, the most-watched streaming original TV season of the year did not come from Netflix; in fact, the service’s highest-ranking title (Stranger Things Season 5) clocked
in at No. 4.
Meanwhile, the latest season of Love Island USA, which moved to Peacock from CBS in 2022, grew its viewership 150% year over year to become the first unscripted streaming original to top the chart, bolstered by its hefty 37-episode season.
The debut seasons of HBO Max’s The Pitt and Taylor Sheridan’s Landman at Paramount+
also outranked anything on Netflix in 2025, while the latter managed the rare feat of having
two different seasons reach the top 10.
Still, Stranger Things will continue to accrue viewership in 2026 as audiences flock to its
two-hour finale (released on the last day of Luminate’s measurement period), and Netflix
held six out of the top 10 slots, showing its hold on viewers is still strong while rival services can only boast single hits.
2025 MOST-WATCHED STREAMING ORIGINAL TV SEASONS in u.s
By minutes streamed
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: DATA COVERS JAN 3, 2025 - JAN 1, 2026
Original content consumption of series increased significantly in 2025, even as original film viewing lagged.
The arrival of major original hits on multiple services in 2025 appeared to be the proverbial rising tide that lifts all boats, as original series engagement soared among the largest streaming providers last year.
U.S. hours viewed leaped from around 17 billion in 2024 to more than 20 billion, an increase fueled not by any one title but by the proliferation of popular shows across SVOD.
By contrast, streaming film engagement dipped slightly in 2025, despite the launch of blockbuster originals such as KPop Demon Hunters and Happy Gilmore 2 at Netflix. Notably, the year was light on theatrical hits that drove major streaming engagement (e.g., Oppenheimer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar 2 in years past), with only Wicked and Disney’s Moana 2 putting up similarly strong showings.
U.S. ORIGINAL CONTENT VIEWING HOURS
On major streaming platforms
Series
Movies
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: “MOVIES” INCLUDES THEATRICAL TITLES RELEASED BY PLATFORM’S PARENT COMPANY (E.G., UNIVERSAL FILMS ON PEACOCK)
SHARE OF U.S. STREAMING ORIGINAL VIEWING TIME
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: PERCENTAGES MAY NOT SUM TO 100% DUE TO ROUNDING; 2022 DATA COVERS DEC. 31, 2021-DEC. 29, 2022; 2023 DEC. 30, 2022-DEC. 28, 2023; 2024 DEC. 29, 2023-JAN. 2, 2025; JAN. 3, 2025-JAN. 1, 2026
Netflix
Prime Video
Netflix’s commanding market share took a tumble as rivals gained ground.
Netflix remains the dominant streaming player by a huge margin, but that margin shrank ever so slightly in 2025 as its competitors continued to chip away at its share of original content
viewing time. The Big Red N dropped below a 60% share in the U.S. for the first time last year, though there was no single service that broke out as a challenger. Indeed, the other most notable shift in the field was no success story: Disney+ has seen its share of viewing time plunge from 9% in 2022 to just 3% in 2025.
HBO Max
Peacock
Hulu
Apple TV
Paramount+
Disney+
Tubi
AMC+
Discovery+
A growing number of streaming series are displaying an increasing ability to launch top original hits.
PHOTO CREDIT: THE PITT, Warrick Page/Max; YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS, APPLE TV; SECRET LIVES OF MORMON WIVES, DISNEY; LANDMAN, Emerson Miller/Paramount+
production
trends
U.S.-PRODUCED TV PREMIERES, BY PLATFORM
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
U.S. TV production continues to decline across the board in 2025, due to the industry’s ongoing contraction.
U.S.-produced TV premieres saw an 11% drop year over year in 2025, with declines coming from all sectors of the television business. Broadcast saw the steepest falloff with a 21%
drop — a consequence of the strike-affected fall 2023 season being pushed to early 2024, which inflated the latter year’s numbers — but cable and SVOD series contracted as well, seeing 10% and 8% drops, respectively.
There are few bright spots for the industry at the moment. NBCUniversal has spun off its
cable networks, and a prospective merger is looming that would combine Warner Bros. with another major TV buyer.
The TV business currently lacks the robust independent production pipelines seen in the
film industry, making it almost entirely dependent on studio health. This shrinking of output is therefore likely to continue as long as Hollywood’s woes persist.
Broadcast
Cable
SVOD
Free Streaming
SVOD original series volume fell moderately, with smaller contractions among most major players.
The contraction in U.S. SVOD series output was not fueled by any service in particular but rather by moderate drops across most of the major players, though HBO Max posted a precipitous
50% decline in original streaming releases. (The service has compensated with linear HBO titles and international imports including Canada’s Heated Rivalry.) Netflix, meanwhile, was roughly
in line with the broader SVOD contraction (6% vs. 8% overall), while Prime Video and Disney+ were the only services to materially increase output in 2025.
U.S.-PRODUCED SVOD TV PREMIERES
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
Los Angeles’ production exodus worsened in 2025, as projects fled major hubs.
Hollywood’s home turf has continued to experience a pronounced decline as a filming location, with only 83 of 2025’s major scripted film and TV projects having shot there. This marked
a staggering 26% drop from 2024, about equal to the change in 2023, the first year of the current content recession. Meanwhile, other major domestic hubs, such as New York and Atlanta,
remained reduced from historical levels, but Canada and the UK held strong, with many projects finding better financial incentives abroad.
U.S. SCRIPTED LIVE-ACTION FILM & SERIES SHOOT LOCATIONS
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV; NOTE: INCLUDES SERIES FROM MAJOR U.S. BROADCAST, CABLE AND SVOD NETWORKS, FILMS FROM MAJOR AND MINI-MAJOR U.S. STUDIOS AND SVODS
Los Angeles
New York
Atlanta
Canada
UK and Ireland
Australia and NZ
Production for major U.S. projects continues to shift overseas.
The share of major U.S.-produced projects that did not film domestically hit a new high in 2025, approaching a 50-50 split. This statistic has risen rapidly in recent years amid escalating domestic costs for labor, space and materials and as an industrywide push for efficiency has forced many projects to look abroad for the optimal production location.
The furor over this in 2025 (such as a tariff on films shot abroad that never came to pass)
has quieted somewhat, but revitalizing domestic production remains a crucial issue for
the U.S. industry.
U.S. FILM & SCRIPTED SERIES PRODUCTION LOCATIONS
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV, LUMINATE INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS
Filmed in U.S.
Did not film in U.S.
South Korea leads international series imports for major U.S. streamers.
Luminate Film & TV data shows South Korea has become the most common source for international series on the major U.S. SVODs, outstripping even the U.K. (These findings refer to titles
produced internationally, not U.S.-produced series filmed abroad.) While the fact remains that precious few non-U.S. series have achieved blockbuster global success à la Squid Game, there is
a new awareness in the industry that a hit can come from anywhere — one reason for the increased licensing of Asian titles by Disney in recent years.
MAJOR U.S.-BASED SVOD INTERNATIONAL SERIES PREMIERES
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
2022
2023
2024
By country of origin
Unscripted production saw a steep drop-off across the board.
For all the success hit unscripted formats achieved in 2025 across streaming and linear TV,
the genre as a whole saw a huge 31% decline in production volume year over year. Perhaps
as programmers grow savvier in employing viewer data on what is or isn’t clicking with audiences, fewer titles can carry a heavier ratings load. What’s also striking is that the
drop-offs ran steep across a broad range of subgenres, from true crime to food and cooking, with one notable exception: sports. Unscripted sports docs and series was one of the few
to post small volume increases in 2025, with standouts including Netflix’s America’s Team:
The Gambler and His Cowboys.
UNSCRIPTED SUBGENRES: ANNUAL SERIES VOLUME
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
2019
2025
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Weekly-release series show surprising strength in audience retention.
The “binge or weekly release” debate has been a mainstay of the streaming landscape
for years, with arguments still unresolved on the best method to fuel viewership and
audience retention.
When using the latter as a success metric, however, a weekly rollout appears to be the
clear winner, at least for 2025. Retention, in this analysis, is calculated as the season finale’s estimated views in its first 12 weeks of release divided by those of the season premiere (hence the audience growth seen for The Handmaid’s Tale’s final season; as is often the case with popular shows, the title saw viewership surge for its series finale).
By this methodology, weekly series accounted for six of 2025’s top 10 highest-retention scripted releases, with two more slots held by “batch” rollouts (two or three episodes released per week). It is also notable that the highest-ranking binge-release series had very short seasons: Sirens S1 consisted of just five episodes; Squid Game S3, six.
2025 STREAMING ORIGINAL SERIES AUDIENCE RETENTION
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV, STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M)
Serialized dramas are declining on U.S. TV platforms.
The prestige drama, a fixture of the 2010s TV landscape, has been collateral damage amid the death of peak TV. Serialized dramas have declined on U.S. platforms each year since 2022, as studios’ spending has shifted away from the pricey genre. In tandem with this decline, however, procedural dramas — a category including medical series such as HBO Max’s The Pitt —
have begun to grow more common. This trend will likely continue thanks not only to The Pitt’s success but the generally lower cost and perceived broader appeal of such shows.
SERIALIZED VS. PROCEDURAL DRAMA TV PREMIERES, 2019-25
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
Film
focus
Wicked leads top U.S. streaming films in 2025 amid Netflix resurgence.
The first half of Universal’s Wicked twofer dominated U.S. streaming as a major draw for Peacock and Prime Video throughout 2025, building on its success at the box office and on PVOD.
But while licensed theatrical titles, rather than SVOD originals, typically rule the streaming film charts — as historical data from 2023-24 shows — Netflix original films showed a new strength
in 2025. The major standout, of course, was the surprise smash KPop Demon Hunters, which became the service’s most-watched film release ever. An open question is whether Netflix’s
rivals can deliver original film hits on the same scale; it’s likely that legacy studios will continue to rely on theatrical to drive word of mouth and engagement for the time being.
TOP STREAMING FILMS, 2023-25
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: SV(M) ENGAGEMENT NUMBERS FOR THEATRICAL FILMS INCLUDE VOD/PVOD VIEWS; 2023 DATA COVERS DEC. 30, 2022-DEC. 28, 2023; 2024 DEC. 29, 2023-JAN. 2, 2025; 2025 JAN. 3, 2025-JAN. 1, 2026
Theatrical film
Netflix original
KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack fueled cross-platform success throughout 2025.
The massive success of KPop Demon Hunters in 2025 wasn’t confined to Netflix, as the film’s soundtrack proved highly popular in both the domestic and global markets. Once the film took off,
daily On-Demand Audio streams for the soundtrack album did not dip below 10 million in the U.S. until late November, and the record was racking up four times that internationally at its peak.
This type of multimedia success is what all studios aspire to nowadays, and it would not be surprising to see Demon Hunters spawn a wave of imitators and perhaps launch a renaissance
for the tie-in movie soundtrack.
KPop Demon Hunters: U.S. Streaming Viewership vs. Global On-Demand Audio Streams
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV
U.S. minutes watched
U.S. ODA
Global Excl U.S. ODA
Streaming film output has dropped significantly as even Netflix pared back its slate.
Original streaming film releases have contracted considerably as the legacy studios reinvested in theatrical titles. Netflix also cut back film output in 2025, reducing its slate by almost 20%
year over year. The service’s long-discussed shift toward quality over quantity for film has begun to manifest, it seems, which paid off with Netflix’s best showing among the most-watched
films in several years (ironically its biggest hit, KPop Demon Hunters, was produced by Sony and sold to Netflix). It’s unclear how the Big Red N’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros.
might impact its film slate, though Netflix has professed a commitment to putting WB films in theaters.
ORIGINAL STREAMING FILMS, BY SERVICE
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV; NOTE: COUNTS INCLUDE SIMULTANEOUS THEATRICAL AND STREAMING RELEASES AND ACQUIRED FILMS; ALL TOTALS BASED ON U.S. PLATFORM DISTRIBUTION ONLY
Netflix
Disney+
Hulu
Prime Video
Paramount+
Peacock
HBO Max
Apple TV
U.S. theatrical film releases were up in 2025 but remain down historically as further contraction looms.
While wide theatrical film releases ticked upward in 2025 vs. 2024 and have rebounded from their COVID-depressed levels earlier in the decade, major studio output remains far depressed from its mid-2000s peak.
This has perpetuated a vicious circle in which a shortage of available movies in theaters is blamed for reduced theatrical attendance, and vice versa, as box office revenue has struggled to reach pre-pandemic heights.
The theatrical landscape is further threatened by more looming consolidation among the largest studios. The prospect of longtime movie theater skeptic Netflix owning a legacy Hollywood studio has prompted widespread anxiety in the industry.
But whether Netflix or competing bidder Paramount ultimately wins control of Warner Bros.,
the film output at WB is likely to be reduced either way, as was the case when Disney absorbed 20th Century Fox.
ANNUAL WIDE THEATRICAL RELEASES, BY STUDIO
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV; NOTE: SONY INCLUDES CRUNCHYROLL; SEARCHLIGHT, FOCUS FEATURES, SONY CLASSICS, REPUBLIC
PICTURES AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS ARE EXCLUDED FROM RELATED PARENT CHARTS
Lionsgate
Paramount
Sony Pictures
Universal
Warner Bros.
Disney/20th
Does Theatrical Success Beget Streaming Success?
In the SVOD era, general wisdom has typically indicated box office hits also do well on streaming services, but the extent can vary dramatically.
Of 2025’s theatrical successes, Jurassic World Rebirth saw the biggest opening week on streaming, with more than 1 billion minutes watched, an impressive feat given Peacock’s relatively slim U.S. subscriber base (41 million). Still, the more kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch are likely to amass more viewership over time due to repeat viewings, as has been the case with mammoth streaming hits such as Encanto and Moana.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ R-rated horror hits Sinners and Weapons saw some of the best debut weeks on streaming for 2025. The former drew more engagement in its first week on HBO Max than the latest Captain America did on Disney+, and Weapons wasn’t far behind.
This demonstrates that the kind of word-of-mouth success observed in theaters can translate to streaming as well, making HBO Max a popular platform for adult audiences.
Top Box Office Hits’ Debut Week on Streaming
SOURCE: LUMINATE FILM & TV, STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M); NOTE: U.S. ONLY; SV(M) ENGAGEMENT NUMBERS INCLUDE VOD/PVOD VIEWS;
SELECT TITLES OMITTED DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY ON STREAMING OR INSUFFICIENT DATA
Survey
Insights
Casual movie fans may be underserved by current studio slates.
About a quarter of U.S. consumers identify as “casual” movie fans, rating their interest in watching movies as 1-3 on a scale of 1-5. So what type of films do the most casual movie viewers
wish were more available — and may offer the best chance of getting them out to theaters? More than any other genre, comedy could be the ticket. While the genre has not been as solid
a performer as it used to be, it’s also possible that this audience is simply not as well served by current studio slates.
GENRES WHERE CASUAL MOVIE FANS MAY BE UNDERSERVED
Survey Q: When it comes to movies, which genres do you wish were more available? (Among casual, theatergoing movie fans)
SOURCE: LUMINATE INSIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT 365 (U.S.), Q1-Q3 2025; MULTIPLE RESPONSES WERE PERMITTED
Passionate movie fans skew younger than casual fans, suggesting a youthful audience can be tapped.
In a positive signal for theater chains, avid and die-hard movie fans skew slightly younger relative to casual fans. That’s largely thanks to Millennial and Boomer audiences: The former accounts
for more than a fourth of avid and die-hard fans, versus just 18% of casual fans, whereas Boomers make up only 19% of the die-hard contingent. We also see healthy representation from Gen Z
in the avid and die-hard categories, a striking contrast to the conventional wisdom that the cohort doesn’t care about movies.
Movie Fanship, BY GENERATION
SOURCE: LUMINATE ENTERTAINMENT 365 STUDY, Q3 2025; FANS SEGMENTED BY 5-PT AVIDITY SCALE: CASUAL (1–3), AVID (4), DIE-HARD (5)
Amazon MGM
Gen Alpha
Gen Z
Millennials
Gen X
Boomers & Beyond
In-Theater Moviegoing
Among movie consumers
2024
2025
SOURCE: LUMINATE INSIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT 365 (U.S.), Q1-Q3 2025; NOTE: Percentages refer to share of movie consumers who reported HAVING WATCHED A MOVIE IN A THEATER IN THE PAST 3 MONTHS
YoY
Change:
Story and genre carry the most weight in getting casual fans into theaters.
The biggest determining factor in enticing a more casual movie fan to get out to theaters is simply having a good story, followed by the genre and positive word of mouth. But a slice of the audience
seems immune, with 21% reporting none of the listed options would bring them to see a movie in theaters.
Most Important Factors in Decision to See a New Movie in Theaters
Among casual movie fans
SOURCE: LUMINATE INSIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT 365 (U.S.), Q3 2025; NOTE: CASUAL FANS ARE DEFINED AS THOSE WHO RATED THEIR AVIDITY BETWEEN 1 AND 3 ON A 5-POINT SCALE
Consumers are largely against or apathetic to generative AI use in script writing.
Consumer acceptance of generative AI in content will be among the considerations driving decision-making about its use in film and TV content creation. The biggest segment (39%) of
consumers aware of generative AI say they’d be less interested in watching a movie or TV show if they knew it was written with gen AI. Even so, a majority are either more interested (25%) or
ambivalent (36%). In fact that’s true across the board, even among bigger fans of movies and TV. As avid movie and TV fanship increases, fans are actually more likely to express interest
in an AI-written movie or show and less likely to be ambivalent, perhaps driven by curiosity about the tech’s applicability.
SOURCE: LUMINATE INSIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT 365 (U.S.), Q3 2025; NOTE: AMONG CONSUMERS AWARE OF GEN AI; FANS SEGMENTED BY 5-PT AVIDITY SCALE, WITH CASUAL 1–3, AVID 4, DIE-HARD 5
Interest IN AI-WRITTEN CONTENT, by Consumer Level of TV/Movie Fanship
More interested
Neither more/less interested
Less interested
Consumers are largely against or apathetic to generative AI use in script writing.
Asked how they felt about a broad range of use cases for AI in film and TV production, consumers consistently tended toward discomfort over comfort, though there were significant pockets of indifference, too. Though no one use case struck too discordant a chord, the most discomfort tended to register with scenarios that involved digital replication or replacement of actors.
Consumer Comfort With GenERATIVE AI Being Used to Partially or Wholly Create Each of the Following in Movies or TV
SOURCE: LUMINATE INSIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT 365 (U.S.), Q3 2025
Very uncomfortable
Somewhat uncomfortable
Indifferent
Somewhat comfortable
Very comfortable
Methodology & FAQ
Subscribe to Luminate Intelligence for its latest expansive deep dive, a look at the defining trends of the global business of cinema. Luminate media analyst Kaare Eriksen has gathered all the essential insights and data necessary to understand a film industry in a state of flux as the exhibition and streaming markets present unique challenges. Nevertheless, there’s
fresh hope a film business that hasn’t been the same since the COVID era could show renewed strength at the box office in 2026.
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Data Sources
The 2025 Year-End Film & TV Report is powered by Luminate’s industry-leading data used by entertainment executives at studios, production companies, talent agencies and more.
For more information or to inquire about accessing the data, please visit luminatedata.com.
Now that the 2025 Year-End Film & TV Report has crowned Peacock’s Love Island USA
the most-watched streaming original of the year, learn more about how the streaming service is leveraging this massive audience to bring eyeballs to its linear-channel sibling in this data-filled interview with Dave Kaplan, head of content analytics for entertainment, sports and Peacock at NBCUniversal. All episodes of Luminate’s In the Lab podcast are available in
a video format on YouTube and Spotify.
Netflix is seeing its competition close the gap among most-watched original series.
In 2025, not only did more Netflix rivals rank among the top original series than ever before, the viewership gap between the Big Red N’s top 10 titles and those of its competitors began to narrow.
These charts illustrate U.S. viewing time for the top 10 original TV seasons on all eight major SVODs, as measured by Luminate Streaming Viewership (M). The data shows a more diversified mix of streaming services matching the heights only Netflix previously seemed capable of reaching. The gap widens again as one descends the ranks, however, with Netflix’s No. 4-10 shows still pulling
far ahead of its rivals. Still, it’s undeniable that the leading service is no longer the only place consumers are turning for their favorite programming.
Top 2024 Streaming Original TV Seasons in U.S.
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M)
Prime Video
Paramount+
Apple TV
Top 2025 Streaming Original TV Seasons IN U.S.
Hulu
Netflix
Disney+
Peacock
HBO Max
SOURCE: LUMINATE STREAMING VIEWERSHIP (M)
Netflix
Prime Video
Peacock
HBO Max
Paramount+
Apple TV
Hulu
Disney+
