A18-49+ Update: Originals vs. Repeats, Comedies vs. Dramas in 2017-18

Here's a look at the different types of programming in 2017-18. 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	92	76	157
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	100	47	197
2010-11	93	100	51	98	47	199
2011-12	97	100	50	101	45	223
2012-13	98	100	49	104	47	229
2013-14	103	100	47	106	49	252
2014-15	102	100	47	118	50	254
2015-16	108	100	51	116	52	270
2016-17	115	100	56	137	62	307
2017-18	117	100	51	135	65	305

After last year's blip, the average for repeats fell back to the 50ish level where it's mostly been residing for the better part of a decade. Much of the blame here goes to Fox, which aired a really high percentage of repeats (23%). Even with help from the Winter Olympics, the sports average actually declined in a down year for the NFL and the World Series.

Big Four Category Real Estate

Year	Originals	Repeats	Specials	Movies	Sports
2001-02	58%	13%	6%	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%	9%
2010-11	64%	21%	4%	4%	6%
2011-12	66%	20%	4%	2%	7%
2012-13	64%	21%	6%	2%	8%
2013-14	62%	20%	6%	2%	9%
2014-15	66%	18%	6%	3%	8%
2015-16	66%	17%	6%	2%	9%
2016-17	65%	16%	6%	3%	10%
2017-18	65%	17%	5%	2%	12%

Though some of the sports staples struggled in 2017-18, the percentage of real estate occupied by sports content was on the uptick again, hitting another new high for the A18-49+ era. Such an increase is not uncommon in a Winter Olympics year; 2013-14, 2009-10 and 2005-06 were all higher than the surrounding seasons.

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
2016-17	108	91	123	79
2017-18	112	91	122	74

In the year of Young Sheldon plus Will and Grace and Roseanne revivals, comedies made a second straight move upward; this was the second-highest Plus average for comedies as a whole in the last 15 years. Like the other big comedy season of 2011-12, this was not about the networks just having a few comedies that happened to be big; as you can see below, the percentage of comedies within the league average real estate was the same as last year.

The ratings gains for comedy almost entirely came at the expense of newsmagazines; in particular, 20/20 was completely obliterated when paired with Friday night genre dramas. And with the NFL struggling, CBS could not count on its usual growth from 60 Minutes.
 

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%
2016-17	17%	51%	21%	10%
2017-18	17%	50%	22%	10%

Boring year for these percentages, but it does notably mark a fourth consecutive year that at least half the stuff in the league average is drama. ABC is trying to end that streak next year with an uncommonly drama-light schedule, but then there's CBS, which killed a comedy hour on Monday in favor of another drama.

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

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