\n<\/p>\n
It has been nearly seven months since Hollywood resolved its strikes, but momentum still hasn\u2019t taken hold in the entertainment industry. \u201cSurvive till \u201925\u201d has become an informal slogan among entertainment workers.<\/p>\n
But the global market for ordering new TV shows is beginning to show some signs of life, and it\u2019s been overwhelmingly driven by two players \u2014 Netflix and Amazon.<\/p>\n
Netflix greenlit more scripted television projects through the first quarter of this year than in any quarter since 2022, according to Ampere Analysis, a research firm. Amazon had its most active quarter since Ampere started tracking market activity five years ago, the firm said.<\/p>\n
Many of their competitors are still taking a more cautious approach. As a result, Netflix and Amazon collectively accounted for 53 percent of the scripted television series orders among the major studios through the first three months of the year, according to Ampere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Most of the series orders have been made internationally. Netflix has been particularly active in Britain, Germany, Spain and South Korea, the research showed, while Amazon has been investing aggressively in India.<\/p>\n
Netflix and Amazon have also purchased more projects in the United States compared with the tail end of 2023, but the increases have been more modest. Netflix had its most active quarter domestically since the first quarter of last year. Amazon had its biggest quarter since the spring of last year, according to the research.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in this post-strike environment where things were still a little uncertain,\u201d said Alice Thorpe, a research manager at Ampere. \u201cNetflix and Amazon are really the first movers here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representatives for Netflix and Amazon declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The two giants with tech roots are in a stronger financial position than their competitors. Netflix earned more than $5 billion in profit last year, and its share price has skyrocketed over the past year. Amazon\u2019s first-quarter earnings surpassed Wall Street\u2019s expectations<\/a>, and the company has had a ballooning share price over the past year.<\/p>\n Wall Street has been far more skeptical of their competition. For the last couple of years, the major media companies have been slashing costs to try to make their streaming services profitable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some of those companies, like Comcast and Paramount, also ordered more domestic projects compared with the second half of last year. Collectively, Amazon and Netflix accounted for about a third of the scripted television series orders in the United States among the major studios in the first three months of the year, according to Ampere.<\/p>\n Still, the volume is still down considerably from the highs of just a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n TV production boomed for much of the past decade, a period known as Peak TV. About 600 scripted shows premiered in the United States in 2022, more than three times the level of two decades earlier.<\/p>\n But in the middle of 2022, the major studios began pulling back investment<\/a> after Wall Street started to frown on the invest-at-any-cost strategy to fuel their streaming services. Last year\u2019s actor and writer strikes further fed the slowdown.<\/p>\n