{"id":2428594,"date":"2026-05-22T20:40:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2428594"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:40:37","slug":"when-it-comes-to-second-run-and-library-tv-shows-hulu-is-the-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/when-it-comes-to-second-run-and-library-tv-shows-hulu-is-the-king\/","title":{"rendered":"When It Comes to Second-Run and Library TV Shows, Hulu Is the King"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today\u2019s article. <\/span>Please subscribe<\/a>.)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

I won\u2019t lie, by the time my editor\/researcher and I got to discussing part three (three!) of my TV recap of 2025, I could tell that he was saying to himself, \u201cReally? We have another article to go?\u201d And then we went over the data together and mutually agreed:<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s a ton of great stuff to go over.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Honestly, if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life. (<\/span>Provided you have paid subscribers<\/a>, you know?)<\/span><\/p>\n

This third and final recap of streaming television in 2025 goes over Nielsen\u2019s Acquired charts, plus a grab bag of other streaming data sources, a smattering of linear data, and more. Honestly, it might be my favorite edition yet. If you\u2019re coming to this new or want links to what\u2019s come before, here are links for <\/span>my recaps on 2025 films<\/a> (on streaming and at the box office), <\/span>new\/debut shows on streaming<\/a>, <\/span>and returning shows<\/a>. After this article, I\u2019ll pick the winners and losers, like I do every year, and share my strategy thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/p>\n

Before we get to the acquired shows (because that story is absolutely fascinating), I wanted to explain why I look at and analyze the acquired TV shows:<\/p>\n

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Acquired TV shows still power so much streaming viewership.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s a list of the top thirty-nine TV shows across all streaming\u2014according to Nielsen\u2019s weekly-released top ten lists\u2014whether the show is new, returning, or second-run. I\u2019ve color-coded shows by whether they\u2019re a \u201cdebut\u201d show (meaning a new streaming original, limited or ongoing), \u201creturning\u201d (the second season of a streaming original) or \u201cacquired\u201d (meaning a library title or second-run linear show).<\/p>\n

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And yeah, acquired TV shows dominate the charts, making up thirteen of the top seventeen shows on streaming last year, mostly consisting of the big three genres: kids shows (<\/span>Bluey<\/em>, <\/span>SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em>), procedurals (<\/span>NCIS<\/em>, <\/span>Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>), sitcoms (<\/span>Big Bang Theory<\/em>) and animated sitcoms (<\/span>Family Guy, Bob\u2019s Burgers<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though we\u2019re seven years into the streaming wars, acquired TV shows still drive the streaming bus. Even though I cover acquired shows each week in the Streaming Ratings Report, this is a reminder that even I probably need to highlight them more. New\/debut streaming shows just don\u2019t put up the same eye-popping numbers as long-running sitcoms, crime, legal & medical procedurals and kids shows. Honestly, I had to lower the bar to 90 million hours just to squeeze some more new shows onto this chart.<\/p>\n

To answer one possible objection, yes, long-running broadcast shows have more episodes so, by definition, they\u2019ll rack up more viewership than new shows (which is absolutely true!) and returning shows (which is also true, but not by as big a margin). But also, I\u2019m an advocate for more streaming shows to start accumulating more episodes, something only a few shows, <\/span>like HBO Max\/<\/a>The Pitt<\/a><\/em>, have accomplished so far in streaming\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, \u201ctime on platform\u201d is a very valuable goal for streamers. Haven\u2019t we been told, ad nauseam, that this is the metric Netflix, especially, is trying to maximize? They\u2019ve gone so far as to say they\u2019re fighting \u201csleep\u201d, and if that\u2019s the goal, you need more shows with more episodes available for customers to keep bingeing.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Netflix, props to <\/span>Stranger Things<\/em>. That show was an absolute beast. Same goes for <\/span>Bluey <\/em>on Disney+.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up, the top TV shows by streamer:<\/p>\n

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When I say the streaming wars are as competitive as ever, this is the chart I\u2019m thinking of. Netflix owns thirteen of these shows outright, but that\u2019s out of forty. (And they only co-stream four others.)<\/p>\n

But to repeat a point I seemingly make every year and just made four paragraphs ago, Netflix doesn\u2019t make long-running shows. Perhaps this dichotomy (Netflix\u2019s success with new and returning shows versus library titles) explains a certain M&A decision from last year: they wanted not just Warner Bros.\u2019 film library, but their TV library as well, which is filled with long-running TV shows like <\/span>Friends<\/em>, <\/span>The Big Bang Theory <\/em>(sixth on the list), and <\/span>ER <\/em>(and arguably the <\/span>The Pitt <\/em>now, or in a year or two).<\/span><\/p>\n

To close out, let\u2019s look at the genres:<\/p>\n

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Compared to the top new shows and returning shows on streaming, some comedy shows\/sitcoms finally popped on the charts, plus a whole lot of procedurals and crime shows and a fair number of genre shows.<\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s zoom in to just the top acquired shows in 2025 according to Nielsen\u2019s weekly Top Ten Acquired shows charts:<\/p>\n

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Compared to the last two TV recaps, what a comeback from Hulu! They stream or co-stream ten of the top eighteen acquired shows. Plus, Disney+ has the top show. Netflix streams\/co-streams nine. And Paramount+ did well too with five shows.<\/p>\n

As a heads up, when it comes to how the charts are colored, I estimate what streamer I think represents the majority of a show\u2019s viewership, but these \u201cpercentages\u201d are just guesses based on things like the number of episodes available and the streamer\u2019s user base. I do like including the colors since it better captures which streamers actually stream which shows, whereas \u201cgrey\u201d obscures that fact.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at genres:<\/p>\n

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As I wrote above, when it comes to acquired shows, the classic broadcast genres show up: comedy, procedurals and kids.<\/p>\n

I mentioned fascinating takeaways in this article, and this next chart is what I was talking about:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just getting started with this issue<\/a>, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you\u2019d like to find out\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n