A18-49+ Update: Originals vs. Repeats, Comedies vs. Dramas in 2015-16

Here's a look at the different types of programming in 2015-16. This post will combine the broad programming categories (originals, repeats, sports, specials, movies) as well as the sub-categories within the original series realm (comedies, dramas, reality, news).

Big Four Category Ratings

Year	Overall	Originals	Repeats	Specials	Movies	Sports
2001-02	98	100	81	100	76	152
2002-03	93	100	75	86	64	135
2003-04	94	100	75	93	66	159
2004-05	94	100	69	85	63	159
2005-06	92	100	65	81	54	146
2006-07	91	100	60	92	52	136
2007-08	90	100	55	84	54	152
2008-09	93	100	53	92	52	162
2009-10	96	100	50	108	47	196
2010-11	93	100	51	98	47	192
2011-12	97	100	50	101	45	223
2012-13	98	100	49	100	47	227
2013-14	103	100	47	113	49	250
2014-15	102	100	47	118	50	254
2015-16	108	100	51	116	53	271

In a brutal year for original programming, almost every other category held up better than the originals. Sports zoomed to yet another new high as all the NFL franchises had good seasons. And even repeats and movies were up. I've always wondered if there would be a point where repeat/movie volume got so low that only the good ones were surviving, and the average went up. That may be a bit in play here, as...

Big Four Category Real Estate

Year	Originals	Repeats	Specials	Movies	Sports
2001-02	58%	13%	7%	14%	8%
2002-03	62%	14%	5%	13%	6%
2003-04	61%	19%	4%	11%	5%
2004-05	63%	20%	5%	8%	5%
2005-06	62%	20%	3%	8%	7%
2006-07	63%	23%	3%	5%	6%
2007-08	61%	23%	3%	5%	7%
2008-09	65%	19%	6%	4%	6%
2009-10	62%	22%	4%	4%	8%
2010-11	64%	21%	4%	4%	6%
2011-12	66%	20%	4%	2%	7%
2012-13	64%	21%	5%	2%	8%
2013-14	62%	20%	6%	2%	9%
2014-15	66%	18%	6%	3%	8%
2015-16	66%	16%	6%	2%	9%

...both repeats and movies had their lowest percentage of real estate in many years. As always, I'll note that while there were fewer series repeats back at the very beginning of the A18-49+ era, that's because movies were such a viable "filler" alternative. It's probably more relevant to look at those two categories combined, and it was easily a new low for the combined "super-cheap filler" in terms of real estate.

Where is that lost filler going? Only a bit of it is actually being replaced with original series, but that category still ticked up to a new high (66.4% vs. 65.7% last year). The biggest gainer was actually sports, up over a percent to 9.1% this year. Presumably the biggest factor in that growth was ABC's addition of primetime NBA games on some winter Saturdays.

Big Four Original Sub-Category Ratings

Year	Comedy	Drama	Reality	News
2001-02	121	104	98	72
2002-03	116	97	127	66
2003-04	101	96	141	66
2004-05	82	113	116	61
2005-06	77	111	120	60
2006-07	84	107	119	58
2007-08	98	101	111	61
2008-09	101	100	116	62
2009-10	101	99	116	61
2010-11	110	94	121	61
2011-12	117	94	114	59
2012-13	103	94	120	65
2013-14	101	94	118	71
2014-15	107	95	119	70
2015-16	100	96	117	77

It was not a great year for comedies on the big four, though these very general numbers may be a bit too broad to be truly useful. Most networks' overall comedy departments were down just a touch in Plus, and the bulk of the decline from 107 to 100 comes from Fox: they dedicated more real estate to comedies, and their reward for those efforts was the likes of Grandfathered, The Grinder, Bordertown and Cooper Barrett's Guide.

This year was a zenith for the "news" category, largely thanks to strong seasons from the CBS staples 48 Hours and 60 Minutes. The networks have mostly boiled the "news" category down to just the few shows that work, and they mostly continued working the same or better in 2015-16, a year of record-setting league average decline.
 

Big Four Original Sub-Category Real Estate

Year	Comedy	Drama	Reality	News
2001-02	21%	44%	14%	21%
2002-03	19%	42%	19%	20%
2003-04	21%	41%	19%	20%
2004-05	16%	41%	26%	17%
2005-06	16%	45%	23%	15%
2006-07	11%	48%	26%	15%
2007-08	9%	40%	38%	12%
2008-09	11%	49%	28%	12%
2009-10	13%	45%	30%	12%
2010-11	14%	43%	30%	13%
2011-12	16%	41%	30%	12%
2012-13	19%	40%	29%	12%
2013-14	20%	44%	27%	9%
2014-15	15%	50%	24%	11%
2015-16	15%	51%	24%	10%

For the second straight season, the big four had its heaviest slate of dramas in the A18-49+ era, but it was by a narrow margin and most of these real estate numbers were pretty flat year-to-year. A few comedy expansions are on the way next fall, so maybe this 51% will go down as the high point?

Here's the now updated A18-49+ programming categories post.

Here's the now updated A18-49+ original sub-categories post.