As is evident from the monthly trends monitored by Vitrina globally for Film+TV Productions that were commissioned, greenlit or financed – the last 3 years have been turbulent and eventful – to say the least! A quick summarized view would be:

2022: A year of extremes—an early-year “revenge production financing” surge fueled by post-COVID recoveries, followed by a sharp market correction on Wall Street’s market-cap reset for entertainment companies, leading to widespread budget tightening.

2023: Marked by Hollywood strikes, which froze scripted productions in the US & UK, forcing many studios to pivot toward unscripted content and international markets to keep productions moving.

2024: A year of stabilization with no major peaks, but regional surprises—Japan, ANZ, Germany, and Brazil saw production spikes, while broadcasters continued scaling back commissioning amid shifting business models. 

Jan–Jun 2025: Early 2025 shows signs of divergence in regional momentum. Europe is proving more resilient, with production activity heating up and a clear surge sustained over the last three quarters—highlighted by a February spike in the UK driven by screenings and Upfronts that boosted announced slates. The gap between Americas and Europe has narrowed, as US production remains comparatively subdued. However, Canada emerged as an exception in this period, with significant activity in June—driven in part by companies converging for Upfront events and bolstering their originals slate.

Insights on Production Transaction Volumes
Jan – Jun’ 25 vs. Jan – Jun’ 24

Methodology: Vitrina monitors unreleased or in-motion projects worldwide across all stages of the content lifecycle—development, production, post-production, and till release—on a daily basis. We track various transactions and deal activities related to content financing, commissioning, co-productions, green-lighting, as well as early stage (content development) and late stage (licensing) arrangements. These transactions between production houses, distributors, streamers, and broadcasters enable us to gain valuable insights into industry trends, key players, buyer behavior, and the specializations of production companies. Our monthly Film+TV productions chart serves as a bellwether of production financing and industry health.

Below are the key highlights for Half Yearly May Film+TV Production Volumes (Jan–Jun 2024 vs. Jan–Jun 2025):

Global Production Trends: Focused Growth and Strategic Commissioning Define H1 2025

Production activity in the first half of 2025 was slightly lower than the same period last year, mainly due to fewer new series commissions. The slowdown was more noticeable in the U.S., while Europe held steadier, helping to narrow the gap between the two regions. Co-productions, franchise titles, and book adaptations remained central to commissioning strategies. English-language output grew in share, and German-language production gained momentum, reflecting continued interest in content with both local and international appeal.

Genre and Language Trends :

Languages:
The first half of 2025 shows English-language productions increasing their share to 51%, up from 47% in the same period of 2024. A noticeable change is the rise of German-language content, which grew to 6% in 2025 after not featuring prominently in the 2024 split, highlighting strengthened local commissioning in German-speaking markets. Spanish, French, and Japanese shares remained relatively stable across both periods.

Genres: Globally, Drama grew from 27% in Jan–Jun 2024 to 29% in 2025, confirming its position as the leading genre. Comedy also increased slightly from 10% to 11%. Reality rose from 5% to 6%, while Thrillers held at 5% in 2025. Documentaries remained steady at around 8–11%, showing sustained commissioning interest.

Scripted vs. Unscripted Split: Scripted content increased its global share of total productions from 75% in Jan–Jun 2024 to 78% in 2025, while Unscripted declined from 25% to 22%, showing a shift back toward scripted development pipelines as market confidence stabilizes.

Top Players Overall: Between Jan–Jun 2024 and Jan–Jun 2025, shifts emerged among top OTT providers and broadcasters. Major US-based global streamers like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Hulu, and Peacock retained their leading positions, demonstrating their continued dominance in high-volume commissioning. 

Crave (Canada) and JioHotstar (India) were added, reflecting increased local production activity—Crave’s boost in part linked to Original slate announcements. On the broadcaster side, France Televisions, ABC, and NBC fell off the top ranks, suggesting possible commissioning slowdowns. Conversely, Fox Network, Lifetime, and ARD (Germany) were added, signaling renewed broadcast investment in the US and stronger German commissioning aligned with Europe’s overall production resilience. Key players like BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Channel 5, CBC, ZDF, and CBS held their ground across both periods, showing consistent production commitments despite evolving industry dynamics.

Within AMERICAS (Jan–Jun 2025 vs. Jan–Jun 2024): In the Americas, production momentum remained intact, with the film sector showing year-on-year growth driven by holiday commissions, comedy specials, and financing-backed projects, while TV production volumes dipped slightly though Q2 saw a resurgence via renewals and franchise-led greenlights. 

Netflix and Prime Video continued to lead commissioning activity across the region, with Fox Network, Lifetime, CBC, and Apple TV+ all increasing their output—signaling renewed investment in original content from both streaming and broadcast players. In contrast, Disney+, ABC, Peacock, and Paramount+ saw a drop in commissioning, reflecting more cautious or selective strategies. Language trends shifted noticeably, with English-language productions rising from 71% to 79% as platforms doubled down on broad-market appeal, while Spanish-language content fell from 9% to 5%. Scripted production also climbed from 70% to 80%, displaying a pivot back to premium, narrative-driven projects. Reality content held steady, with U.S. networks continuing to favor proven formats and brand-aligned spin-offs, while Canada emerged as a critical player—both as a production hub and co-production partner—reinforcing its role in scripted and documentary content alike.

Within EMEA (Jan–Jun 2025 vs. Jan–Jun 2024): While production volumes declined from the previous year, commissioners have become notably more selective as national broadcasters and global platforms focused on a reduced slate of high-impact scripted projects, particularly in the UK and Germany. EMEA remained the global leader in format adaptations, with countries like Sweden and Germany rising to the fore, overtaking traditional strongholds such as France and the Netherlands, while reality production saw an uptick fueled by resilient demand in the UK, Netherlands, and Italy. Europe continued to dominate the book adaptation space, leveraging its cultural affinity for literary IP and robust funding bodies, with BBC, Netflix, Prime Video, and broadcasters like SVT and ZDF remaining central players across genres. 

Early 2025 commissioning showed mixed trends: BBC and ARD increased output, Channel 4 recorded a slight rise, while Netflix, Prime Video, and Sky reduced their commissioning activity, and ZDF, ITV, and Channel 5 maintained stable levels. German-language productions grew markedly from 7% to 14%, while English-language share declined from 46% to 40%. The UK, Germany, France, and Spain continued as the region’s dominant production markets.

Within APAC (Jan–Jun 2025 vs. Jan–Jun 2024): Asia-Pacific saw an overall softening in production volumes compared to 2024, yet the region’s commissioner base grew more diverse, with Netflix remaining a cornerstone across categories while local players such as JioHotstar, Stan, KlikFilm, and TVN (South Korea) emerged as influential forces. While high-budget titles were fewer, there was a visible expansion in culturally resonant, locally driven content, particularly in India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan. APAC’s reality and drama output remained stable on a smaller base, with regional studios like CJ ENM, Studio Dragon, Maddock Films, and Endemol Shine supporting a growing pipeline of originals with global export potential. 

Early 2025 commissioning reflected broader regional diversification, with new players like KlikFilm, Vidio, TBS Television, TVN, Stan, and Amazon MX Player joining the leaderboard, while iQIYI, Tencent Video/WeTV, NZ On Air, and TV3 dropped off. Netflix, Prime Video, JioHotstar, and Zee5 retained strong positions, and language trends showed Japanese increasing from 14% to 16%, Hindi from 9% to 12%, while English remained stable at 18%, with Korean entering the top ranks at 9%—highlighting a growing focus on local-language content.