NATPE Survey: Scripted Series Volume Increasing, Production Budgets Decreasing

LOS ANGELES: A new survey from NATPE on the future of the content industry reveals that more than half of members polled (54 percent) believe that the number of scripted shows will increase over the next two years.

Around half of members polled both think that scripted-TV quality will increase (47 percent) and yet budgets will decline (45 percent). Of those polled, 75 percent believe that streaming VOD services—Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video and the like—will play the largest role in bringing new scripted shows to the market in the next two years.

The majority of NATPE members polled (58 percent) said they believe that marketing and promotion outweighs other factors (such as the reputation of cast, creators or platform) when driving viewer tune-in.

“This survey of our members’ opinions reveals that content creators and providers believe that the proliferation of scripted content is not slowing over the next two years,” said NATPE’s president and CEO, Rod Perth. “Future surveys will deal with content-related subjects like advertising and virtual reality, among other issues. These surveys are part of an expanded initiative to further enhance the services NATPE provides to our membership.”